Marked for Derlis Riveros
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Vincent Marchetti
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paris FC lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Jul 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Paris FC
Diego Coppola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Paris FC
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Koleosho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Paris FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market19 Jul 2027
Toulouse FC are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Paris FC will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market19 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Diego Coppola signs something — a contract at Paris FC or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
131 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paris FC lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad3 May 2027
Ilan Kebbal 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.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Paris FC
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Koleosho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Paris FC are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout3 May 2027
Rudy Matondo 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Paris FC's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Paris FC has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Mar 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 Paris FC this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Getting past Kevin Trapp has become the hardest job in the division
15 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Paris FC
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Koleosho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Paris FC can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Stéphane Lacroix chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Market1 Mar 2027
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Paris FC has been clear about where Timothée Kolodziejczak stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Angers SCO, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.51 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Paris FC until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Paris FC
Ilan Kebbal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Paris FC do not lose
6 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Another clean sheet for Kevin Trapp
14 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Kevin Trapp has given nobody the chance.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Luca Koleosho 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 8.44 — 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
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Paris FC
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Paris FC
Ilan Kebbal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Obed Nkambadio is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for Paris FC, 2‑1 the final word against RC Lens in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Koleosho 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Paris FC
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Luca Koleosho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.05 — 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Douglas
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Douglas, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Stéphane Lacroix could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, Paris FC do not lose
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Paris FC
Diego Coppola and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Paris FC training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rudy Matondo 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Rudy Matondo
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Didier Perrot and Paris FC agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Paris FC are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Angers SCO leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.