Marked for Robert Luthuli
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Godfred Asiamah and Panthere du Nde agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Thabang Molaoa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Raúl Quiroga out for 126 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Feb 2028
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Dan Tchonlafi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panthere du Nde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Panthere du Nde training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Benzaid is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match19 Feb 2028
0‑2 to Stade Renard de Melong, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market21 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panthere du Nde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
5.44 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
A fracture rules Raúl Quiroga out for 133 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Feb 2028
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Panthere du Nde are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Landry Yotchou and Panthere du Nde agree another 3 years.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Panthere du Nde had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match12 Feb 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Feb 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 29 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Thabang Molaoa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 Feb 2028
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
11 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Souleman Souleman has given nobody the chance.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Panthere du Nde training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gaetan Doko Bello is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Moses Chima’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Jan 2028
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market31 Jan 2028
Dan Tchonlafi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panthere du Nde can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Raúl Quiroga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Warren Fozing
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Konrad Nfanseu and Panthere du Nde agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match29 Jan 2028
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Unisport Bafang? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jan 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Panthere du Nde will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Market3 Jan 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Panthere du Nde, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match1 Jan 2028
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match1 Jan 2028
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Marc Onguene falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Moussa Benzaid
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Moussa Benzaid has come out of that comparison in the side, and Panthere du Nde have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Dec 2027
Marc Yapéndé hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panthere du Nde can pretend not to have heard.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Souleman Souleman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moses Chima, and the manager let it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match11 Dec 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dynamo Douala came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
Marc Yapéndé breaks a bone — 18 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market6 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Trésor Feumba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panthere du Nde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match4 Dec 2027
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
Marc Yapéndé breaks a bone — 36 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Nov 2027
Warren Fozing has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Panthere du Nde they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Marc Yapéndé has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Panthere du Nde training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Benzaid is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match20 Nov 2027
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Marc Yapéndé out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market15 Nov 2027
Marc Yapéndé hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panthere du Nde can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Raúl Quiroga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces15 Nov 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Konrad Nfanseu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.74, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match13 Nov 2027
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Fauve Azur Elite tried to reorganise, Panthere du Nde did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Ninety minutes of Robert Luthuli at his very best
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Panthere du Nde.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Marc Yapéndé out for 58 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 Nov 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Souleman Souleman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Nov 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Marc Yapéndé out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market25 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Warren Fozing
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Warren Fozing will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Panthere du Nde the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Oct 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad25 Oct 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Marc Yapéndé has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market25 Oct 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Panthere du Nde know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Oct 2027
Marc Yapéndé breaks a bone — 73 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Raúl Quiroga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces18 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Konrad Nfanseu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.79 on the card, and the Panthere du Nde support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Marc Yapéndé out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Theo Williams Jr. is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Souleman Souleman was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Robert Luthuli has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Panthere du Nde deserved better, and so did he.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Warren Fozing out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Theo Williams Jr. is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Raúl Quiroga breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cyrien Saha Bikim
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panthere du Nde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Raúl Quiroga in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Moussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match27 Feb 2027
A 2‑1 win over Fortuna Mfou, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.35, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 6. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Raúl Quiroga out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Panthere du Nde will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cyrien Saha Bikim
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panthere du Nde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Warren Fozing was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alain Sifor has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Alain Sifor’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Panthere du Nde.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Panthere du Nde game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Raúl Quiroga breaks a bone — 119 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cyrien Saha Bikim
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panthere du Nde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Panthere du Nde have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 13 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Cyrien Saha Bikim damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match30 Dec 2026
0‑1 against Cotonsport Garoua, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match2 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Aigle Royal de Moungo, and it could have been more.
Market4 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Warren Fozing was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Raúl Quiroga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Panthere du Nde, and 4 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.75 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Cyrien Saha Bikim damages knee ligaments — 116 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 116 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Gazelle Garoua, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market28 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match26 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Panthere du Nde are no longer polite ones.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Panthere du Nde training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Benzaid is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cyrien Saha Bikim
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panthere du Nde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market21 Dec 2026
Warren Fozing hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Panthere du Nde can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Panthere du Nde this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Raúl Quiroga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Cotonsport Garoua, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cyrien Saha Bikim
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Panthere du Nde lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Marc Yapéndé, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moses Chima, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match12 Dec 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Dynamo Douala leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Marc Onguene
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Warren Fozing was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Panthere du Nde did not have in the autumn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Raúl Quiroga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Panthere du Nde game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gazelle Garoua runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Robert Luthuli at his very best
Marked 8.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Panthere du Nde.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Robert Luthuli’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Panthere du Nde.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match2 Nov 2026
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Panthere du Nde's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Panthere du Nde has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Raúl Quiroga was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Marc Onguene has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Raúl Quiroga gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Évrard Beyong falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.