From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Feb 2027
Djoliba make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Djoliba have 4 straight wins of it.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match6 Feb 2027
Djoliba make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Makan Samabaly
10 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The terraces8 Feb 2027
At 22 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Three points for Djoliba, 1‑0 the final word against Real Bamako in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sékou Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Djoliba release $231.6K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.03, and nobody on the pitch better.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at Djoliba until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match30 Jan 2027
Djoliba make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Djoliba have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Saliou Guindo
15 goals and a season average of 7.27 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Barou Sanogo 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Djoliba make home a hard place to visit
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Djoliba asked and AS Korofina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match23 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Djoliba
The unbeaten run reaches 18. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market25 Jan 2027
$390.0K from FC Diarra for Mahamadou Sissoko. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Match20 Jan 2027
Djoliba march on in the cup
AS Police are out and Djoliba go through, 5‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match23 Jan 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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.47, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad25 Jan 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.60 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market25 Jan 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Djoliba sell a favourite for $390.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mahamadou Sissoko was one of the reasons people came, and $390.0K does not replace that by itself.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Jan 2027
Still nobody has beaten Djoliba
The unbeaten run reaches 16. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market18 Jan 2027
$200.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Match18 Jan 2027
Djoliba are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 42 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Fantamady Diarra
19 goals and a season average of 7.52 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Berekum Chelsea had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $200.0K sale of Wilfried Kouassi
He is going to Onze Createurs, the club has $200.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market18 Jan 2027
Levadia come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match9 Jan 2027
17‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Saliou Guindo, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match9 Jan 2027
15 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 15 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Mahamadou Sissoko, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad11 Jan 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market11 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Onze Createurs had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Onze Createurs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Djoliba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Jan 2027
14 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
Match2 Jan 2027
3‑0, and Zoumana Simpara took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Jan 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 Djoliba can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.47, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Djoliba had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.48 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market4 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Djoliba do not lose
13 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.72 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Boua Kane: 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.” Djoliba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match26 Dec 2026
After 8 games, Djoliba finally taste it again
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Stade Malien; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad28 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Mahamadou Sissoko
7 goals and a season average of 7.43 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Oumar Coulibaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 116% of everything Djoliba earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
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Match
Halfway: Djoliba sit in position 1
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Squad
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
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The dugout
A promise honoured for Saliou Guindo
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Match21 Dec 2026
First, on 34 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.54, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad21 Dec 2026
14 goals and a season average of 7.44. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Mahamadou Sissoko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.75. 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
“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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
The big one: Stade Malien come into view
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Djoliba will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Saliou Guindo at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Djoliba.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑0 against AS Korofina, and it could have been more.
Match12 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Fantamady Diarra, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Makan Samabaly takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Makan Samabaly provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Fantamady Diarra
13 goals and a season average of 7.39 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Barou Sanogo 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Djoliba. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Dec 2026
Binga will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Djoliba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Dec 2026
Djoliba cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Fantamady Diarra, 34, rolls back the years — 8.52
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.52 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.35 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.24 — 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Zoumana Simpara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sékou Diarra 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Lamine Diakité
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Squad
Mady Dembélé makes the team of the month
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Afrique Foot Elite, and it could have been more.
Match28 Nov 2026
Djoliba cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.52 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.72 — 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Djoliba are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saliou Guindo, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
9 goals and a season average of 7.29. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Makan Samabaly at his very best
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Boardroom
108% of the income goes out in wages at Djoliba
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Squad
A row about effort at Djoliba
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Nov 2026
4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match23 Nov 2026
Djoliba are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 22 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.51, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Makan Samabaly at his very best
Marked 8.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Djoliba.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Zoumana Simpara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Fantamady Diarra
8 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
FC Diarra will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Djoliba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad16 Nov 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Mahamadou Sissoko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.41
A mark of 8.41 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market16 Nov 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 Djoliba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Makan Samabaly 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad9 Nov 2026
At 21, Mahamadou Sissoko is already the best thing here
An average of 7.05 in a first team he is several years too young for. Djoliba have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Lamine Diakité
“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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Djoliba, 1‑0 the final word against Real Bamako in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Zoumana Simpara at his very best
Marked 8.05. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Djoliba.
Squad9 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Méry Camara 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Saliou Guindo
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 2026
AS Bakaridjan will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Djoliba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.42, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 7.72 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Zoumana Simpara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Makan Samabaly at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Djoliba.
Squad2 Nov 2026
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Djoliba will try not to make too much of it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Oumar Coulibaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Djoliba know which stage they are at.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 108% of the Djoliba income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Barou Sanogo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Méry Camara 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
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Onze Createurs will be the happier side with the point.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Djoliba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Djoliba was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Oct 2026
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.14, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Mahamadou Sissoko takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahamadou Sissoko provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Fantamady Diarra takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fantamady Diarra provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Djoliba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Oct 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 Djoliba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oumar Coulibaly is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Makan Samabaly 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Oct 2026
4‑0, and Seydou Diabaté took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.58 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Fantamady Diarra, 34, rolls back the years — 8.04
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.04 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aly Keïta is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad12 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Djoliba 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
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against US Bougouni, and it could have been more.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Mahamadou Sissoko at 21 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mahamadou Sissoko did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Méry Camara has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 126% of everything Djoliba earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Méry Camara 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 21 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Sep 2026
Bakary Kouma 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 Djoliba can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Oumar Coulibaly is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Zoumana Simpara has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Flora had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market14 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 Djoliba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
27 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Boulkassoum Diarra is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Méry Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Levadia had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 20 in, 4 out at Djoliba
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 4 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 Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Djoliba
Barou Sanogo 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Méry Camara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Djoliba 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kénan Glougbé 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Djoliba have made Mahamadou Sissoko available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market31 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 Djoliba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Djoliba offered $670.0K; Stade Malien said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Makan Samabaly 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Malien have kept their man, and Djoliba go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The Kénan Glougbé conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Flora will make the call about Kénan Glougbé this week. Djoliba have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sékou Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mahamadou Sissoko has his answer from Djoliba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Djoliba know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Flora for Amadou Soumaré 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 targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Stade Malien 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Flora have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kénan Glougbé. The answer from Djoliba has not changed — yet.
Squad17 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 Djoliba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Djoliba know which stage they are at.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sékou Diarra 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market10 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Djoliba did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Djoliba
Makan Samabaly 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Djoliba asked and Stade Malien 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
The name of Amadou Soumaré has come up in conversations Djoliba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Lassana Toure is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Etoiles du Mande for Mahamadou Sissoko 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kénan Glougbé and Djoliba agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Djoliba know which stage they are at.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Djoliba
Oumar Coulibaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.