From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Frédéric Paul recited it perfectly.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with EA Guingamp; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market5 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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SC Bastia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $470.0K — a club that wants Axel Maraval enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The offer went to FC Rouen this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at SC Bastia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market28 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
SC Bastia asked and FC Lorient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Everybody at SC Bastia saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Too much change too quickly at SC Bastia
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to AS Saint-Etienne: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Issiaga Soumah and SC Bastia agree another 5 years.
The dugout28 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Jun 2027
Anger at SC Bastia spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market21 Jun 2027
Amine Boutrah has left for RC Strasbourg in a $5.4M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
SC Bastia asked and RC Lens said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Jun 2027
He is 17, and nobody at SC Bastia signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad21 Jun 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation SC Bastia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market21 Jun 2027
SC Bastia have made Jocelyn Janneh available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market21 Jun 2027
A season-long audition: Sochaux still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are SC Bastia's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
Mehdi Merghem has left for LOSC Lille in a $2.6M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market14 Jun 2027
FC Nantes paid $2.6M and SC Bastia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at SC Bastia heard it as anything else.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Julien Kouadio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market14 Jun 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. SC Bastia will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to LOSC Lille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Sochaux: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
It is over: SC Bastia are relegated
The arithmetic ran out, and everybody could see it coming from a distance. The hard summer starts now, and next season's fixtures will be full of unfamiliar names.
Market7 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and LOSC Lille waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SC Bastia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Denis Vidal has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jun 2027
SC Bastia say no — this time
The offer from Monaco for Zakaria Ariss was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SC Bastia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market7 Jun 2027
Rominigue Kouamé wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at SC Bastia hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Jun 2027
CJ Egan-Riley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
SC Bastia asked and Stade de Reims said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout7 Jun 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at SC Bastia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 May 2027
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 May 2027
5 new faces, and SC Bastia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout31 May 2027
Julien Kouadio knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Bastia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market31 May 2027
SC Bastia have let the market know Clément Rodrigues can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the SC Bastia board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad24 May 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Hans Hateboer 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.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
A promise honoured at SC Bastia
Something was said to Mehdi Merghem and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Ariss, and the manager let it.
The dugout24 May 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Bastia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 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.
Market24 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amine Boutrah signs something — a contract at SC Bastia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad24 May 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at SC Bastia and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 May 2027
SC Bastia are in real trouble now
Position 18, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market17 May 2027
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
CJ Egan-Riley 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Hans Hateboer 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 dugout17 May 2027
Hans Hateboer asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout17 May 2027
Fabian Heck 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 dugout17 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SC Bastia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad17 May 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one SC Bastia will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad17 May 2027
A season on the outside for Hugo Gaona
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at SC Bastia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Florian Bohnert damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
The dugout10 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.
Squad10 May 2027
CJ Egan-Riley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and SC Bastia know it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Hans Hateboer asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at SC Bastia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 May 2027
Hans Hateboer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SC Bastia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout3 May 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
$7.3M taken back off the SC Bastia table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
The dugout3 May 2027
Gustavo Alles knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Bastia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout3 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SC Bastia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the SC Bastia board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad26 Apr 2027
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Apr 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Zyed Beltaief 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Gustavo Alles knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Bastia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at SC Bastia. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market26 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Amine Boutrah signs something — a contract at SC Bastia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
23 starts and a season average of 6.77. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Loup-Diwan Guého’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Florian Bohnert
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
The caretaker keeps it: Denis Vidal confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Match19 Apr 2027
SC Bastia sink to position 18
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad19 Apr 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Rominigue Kouamé 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juan David Martínez, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bilel Aouacheria has written the date down.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
No place in the plan for Fabian Heck
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nicolas Parravicini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2027
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
8 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
The goals have deserted SC Bastia
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SC Bastia can tell you which week it ends in.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” SC Bastia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom12 Apr 2027
Still no name above the door at SC Bastia
Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Apr 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 ratings12 Apr 2027
Nobody could get near Maxime Blé
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
Christophe Vincent damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Match3 Apr 2027
7 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Apr 2027
7 matches without a goal for SC Bastia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 7 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Apr 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Looking ahead5 Apr 2027
US Boulogne next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Ariss, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at SC Bastia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Mar 2027
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
CJ Egan-Riley 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Loup-Diwan Guého is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bilel Aouacheria, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at SC Bastia
Something was said to CJ Egan-Riley and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Hans Hateboer knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SC Bastia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market29 Mar 2027
The name of Amine Boutrah keeps appearing in other people's back pages. SC Bastia say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Mar 2027
SC Bastia are in real trouble now
Position 17, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Hans Hateboer: 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.” SC Bastia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
6 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
The goals have deserted SC Bastia
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SC Bastia can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Mar 2027
CJ Egan-Riley 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 Mar 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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 ratings22 Mar 2027
Maxime Blé beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A mark of 7.18, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Mar 2027
SC Bastia cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Hans Hateboer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
SC Bastia still without a manager
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SC Bastia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match13 Mar 2027
FC Annecy left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustavo Alles, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The statement thanked him for his efforts and wished him well, in that order and in about that many words. The search begins immediately.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Christophe Vincent damages knee ligaments — 46 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market8 Mar 2027
Gustavo Alles 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Ayman Aiki: 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.” SC Bastia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Mar 2027
41 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match6 Mar 2027
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rominigue Kouamé and SC Bastia agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Anger at SC Bastia spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Mar 2027
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Mehdi Merghem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at SC Bastia can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match27 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for SC Bastia
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.
Match27 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Grenoble Foot 38, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout1 Mar 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
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match22 Feb 2027
SC Bastia are in real trouble now
Position 17, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad22 Feb 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Montpellier HSC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Ariss, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maximiliano Freitas trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
Christophe Vincent damages knee ligaments — 71 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Market15 Feb 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 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
Hans Hateboer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zakaria Ariss and SC Bastia agree another 4 years.
The dugout15 Feb 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Félix Tomi
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
The drought breaks for SC Bastia
20 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Clermont Foot were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Christophe Vincent damages knee ligaments — 78 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 78 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Amine Boutrah takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amine Boutrah provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market8 Feb 2027
Gustavo Alles 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Feb 2027
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
CJ Egan-Riley and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amine Boutrah commits to SC Bastia for another 4 years.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Amine Boutrah’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to SC Bastia.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Anger at SC Bastia spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Feb 2027
85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at SC Bastia
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
SC Bastia close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market1 Feb 2027
Stade Rennais pay $1.5M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
CJ Egan-Riley 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
SC Bastia cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
19 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match25 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for SC Bastia
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. SC Bastia have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad25 Jan 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
SC Bastia cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
18 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Christophe Vincent damages knee ligaments — 101 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Stade Briochin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at SC Bastia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Le Havre AC come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and SC Bastia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
17 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Jan 2027
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SC Bastia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 2027
Gustavo Alles 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Business is business: Tom Ducrocq goes
Olympique Lyonnais paid $550.0K and SC Bastia took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market11 Jan 2027
Ruben Beliandjou has left for FC Annecy in a $510.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and SC Bastia know it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
16 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Jan 2027
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at SC Bastia
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SC Bastia is running low.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the SC Bastia board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
SC Bastia say no — this time
The offer from FC Metz for Tom Ducrocq was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Stade Rennais is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Dec 2026
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Dec 2026
SC Bastia are in real trouble now
Position 18, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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 ratings28 Dec 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Johny Placide
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dominique Guidi damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rominigue Kouamé 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 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Loup-Diwan Guého is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Rominigue Kouamé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Julien Kouadio
“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.
Match19 Dec 2026
It needed Rominigue Kouamé to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Red Star, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jérémy Sebas 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
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 Royer chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dominique Guidi damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
10 matches without a goal for SC Bastia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to ESTAC Troyes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match14 Dec 2026
Halfway: SC Bastia sit in position 18
14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tom Ducrocq, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Dec 2026
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SC Bastia lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 matches without a goal for SC Bastia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The scrutiny sharpens at SC Bastia
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SC Bastia is running low.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Rominigue Kouamé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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 dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stéphane Royer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SC Bastia dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dominique Guidi
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Nov 2026
11 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Match30 Nov 2026
SC Bastia are in real trouble now
Position 18, 13 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match28 Nov 2026
SC Bastia cannot find the net
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at SC Bastia now.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Sebas 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
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Dominique Guidi damages knee ligaments — 107 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
10 matches without a win for SC Bastia
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around SC Bastia are no longer polite ones.
Match21 Nov 2026
SC Bastia cannot find the net
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stéphane Royer was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the SC Bastia dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Dominique Guidi
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brando Moruzzi 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 dugout16 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Julien Fabri has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at SC Bastia.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Juan José Guevara is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
9 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.
Match4 Nov 2026
SC Bastia bow out of the cup
Toulouse FC go through and SC Bastia go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a goal for SC Bastia
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Rominigue Kouamé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Tom Ducrocq beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match7 Nov 2026
FC Annecy left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Sebas 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
Uneasy
Match2 Nov 2026
SC Bastia sink to position 16
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
7 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.
The dugout2 Nov 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
SC Bastia cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad2 Nov 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rominigue Kouamé was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Clément Rodrigues has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
6 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted SC Bastia
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at SC Bastia can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brando Moruzzi 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 dugout26 Oct 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Stéphane Royer after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at SC Bastia
Something was said to Maximiliano Freitas and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SC Bastia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match17 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation SC Bastia did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Sebas 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stéphane Royer after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SC Bastia may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mehdi Merghem 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
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sacha Contena is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at SC Bastia
Something was said to Lucas Gourna-Douath and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and SC Bastia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ayman Aiki
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
Bilel Aouacheria asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Montpellier HSC next, and one man in the SC Bastia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
4 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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; SC Bastia are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, SC Bastia 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at SC Bastia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brando Moruzzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 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
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rominigue Kouamé 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Sep 2026
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Stéphane Royer after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Issiaka Karamoko 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.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
AS Nancy next, and one man in the SC Bastia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Bilel Aouacheria
Nobody at SC Bastia 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Juan José Guevara has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SC Bastia 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Julien Fabri decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match16 Sep 2026
SC Bastia march on in the cup
US Concarneau are out and SC Bastia go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
7.32, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. SC Bastia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.20 on the card, and the SC Bastia support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Sep 2026
The deal that would have taken Ruben Beliandjou to Valenciennes has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to SC Bastia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rominigue Kouamé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Sep 2026
The drought breaks for SC Bastia
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Stade Lavallois were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brando Moruzzi 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 Sep 2026
Marked 7.98. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and SC Bastia are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. SC Bastia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Stade Lavallois had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 22 in, 30 out at SC Bastia
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 30 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and SC Bastia did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at SC Bastia now.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Anthony Roncaglia
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 Aug 2026
SC Bastia say no — this time
The offer from ES Ben Aknoun for Daylam Meddah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
Tom Ducrocq 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 SC Bastia can pretend not to have heard.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for SC Bastia
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Montpellier HSC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. 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
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Anthony Roncaglia damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with AS Saint-Etienne died in the treatment room. Nobody will say what was found and everybody in the game will find out by Friday.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 SC Bastia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to SC Bastia's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at SC Bastia has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at SC Bastia
Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
SC Bastia asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Anthony Roncaglia
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SC Bastia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with AS Saint-Etienne; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market17 Aug 2026
SC Bastia spend $1.6M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.6M has been paid because Daylam Meddah is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Rominigue Kouamé delivers — 7.74
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rominigue Kouamé scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.4M — a club that wants Pape Cabral enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax is saying, and nobody at SC Bastia is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Rominigue Kouamé and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
SC Bastia asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at SC Bastia, another week without a signature from Rominigue Kouamé.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Monaco this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Ajax, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mehdi Merghem 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at SC Bastia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rominigue Kouamé 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ayman Aiki and SC Bastia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
SC Bastia asked and Viktoria Plzen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Robert has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paul Rousseau has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Alexandre Lefebvre has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Jocelyn Janneh pops up at the right end — 6.02
6.02, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad3 Aug 2026
99 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and SC Bastia know what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mehdi Merghem and SC Bastia agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 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 SC Bastia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Brestois have kept their man, and SC Bastia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
SC Bastia hit back inside 2 minutes
Red Star held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. SC Bastia answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“76 caps was 76 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 38 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from SC Bastia.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Hull City: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.