Marked for Modibo Maïga
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Olympique Akbou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kheireddine Benamrane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique Akbou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
The decline has begun for Modibo Maïga
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 40 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Olympique Akbou is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Oussama Darfalou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout17 May 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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 Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Modibo Maïga, and the manager let it.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hatem El Fegoun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 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.
The terraces17 May 2027
The stands have heard the Hamdi Labidi talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Olympique Akbou would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Modibo Maïga commits to Olympique Akbou for another 2 years.
Squad3 May 2027
Oussama Darfalou and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Toufik Addadi, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 May 2027
A promise honoured for Ali Amriche
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olympique Akbou told Ali Amriche something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad3 May 2027
Hatem El Fegoun 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 dugout3 May 2027
Fethallah Tahar has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Olympique Akbou will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Apr 2027
The season ends: position 11 for Olympique Akbou
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 33 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Hamdi Labidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Merouane Mehdaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout26 Apr 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohamed Bounedjah was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Olympique Akbou dressing room was either.
Market26 Apr 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Olympique Akbou, another week without a signature from M'hend Sediri.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The plan did not have a place for Modibo Maïga
Nobody at Olympique Akbou is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Apr 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Hamdi Labidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
CR Belouizdad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Both jobs done by Modibo Maïga — 6.68
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.68, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olympique Akbou told Hamza Mouali something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohamed Bounedjah after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Nadjib Berrabah
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Olympique Akbou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Chelfaoui 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.
Looking ahead19 Apr 2027
Olympique Akbou take on the side everybody is chasing
JS Kabylie arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
27 days out for Zakaria Messibah after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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 Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Time is catching up with Modibo Maïga
Everybody at Olympique Akbou saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 40 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to M'hend Sediri, and the manager let it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
The dugout29 Mar 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Fethallah Tahar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympique Akbou needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Next up on the road: ASO Chlef, position 12. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Zakaria Messibah out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A one-man rearguard from Rayane Yesli
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Hamdi Labidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ali Amriche
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohamed Bounedjah on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Olympique Akbou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hatem El Fegoun 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
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Zakaria Messibah out for 48 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.65, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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 ratings8 Mar 2027
Marked 8.20 — 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 dugout8 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Slimane Bouteldja
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Slimane Bouteldja has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olympique Akbou have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Mohamed Bounedjah could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Zakaria Messibah out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Olympique Akbou may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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 Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The team sheet said everything about Modibo Maïga
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Modibo Maïga.
Player ratings1 Mar 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to Hamza Mouali
A mark of 7.29, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Louanes Zidi
“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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Benaouda Klileche 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.