From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad8 Mar 2027
20 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Fantamady Diarra, 35, rolls back the years — 8.42
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.42 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Malick Djiguiba at 20 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Malick Djiguiba did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match6 Mar 2027
Djoliba cannot stop winning
4 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lamine Diakité and Djoliba agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Djoliba are at home on the road
4 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Fantamady 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.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The crowd has taken to Aly Keïta
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Feb 2027
Afrique Foot Elite will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Djoliba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Lamine Diakité
21 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 8.01 at 20, 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 ratings1 Mar 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match27 Feb 2027
Nobody wins at Djoliba
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match27 Feb 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 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fantamady 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.51 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match20 Feb 2027
9 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
The terraces22 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
AS Police made Djoliba work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match20 Feb 2027
Djoliba keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nankoma Keïta 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.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
“I watch every Djoliba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Police runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Feb 2027
5‑0, and Malick Djiguiba took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match15 Feb 2027
Djoliba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 51 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.55, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Fantamady Diarra takes the afternoon — 8.53
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fantamady Diarra provided it, and the 8.53 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Lamine Diakité
20 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.42 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Djoliba know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match13 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Djoliba
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match13 Feb 2027
The run at home goes on for Djoliba
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fantamady Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
19 goals and a season average of 7.42. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market8 Feb 2027
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Onze Createurs for Lassana N'Diaye 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
7 unbeaten for Djoliba
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Djoliba did not have in the autumn.
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
Fantamady 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Djoliba asked and Binga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Djoliba
Nankoma Keïta 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
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mahamadou N'Diaye is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
Stade Malien arrived with $360.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
Aboubacar Sidibé has gone, the accounts have $360.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.40, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad1 Feb 2027
18 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
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
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Afrique Foot Elite for Boua Kane 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Amadou Soumaré again, and this time the name on the line is Levadia. Djoliba are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Jan 2027
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Cheïbane Traoré obliged against Binga. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Djoliba.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fantamady Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I watch every Djoliba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Police runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hamari Samassekou was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Djoliba dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Etoiles du Mande will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Djoliba were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match18 Jan 2027
Djoliba up to position 2
43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market18 Jan 2027
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Cotonsport Garoua 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.
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.38, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market18 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Seydou Diabaté sold
US Bougouni arrived with $310.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Match9 Jan 2027
9‑0, and Malick Djiguiba took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad11 Jan 2027
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The match ball belongs to Amadou Soumaré, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.43 at 20, 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Fantamady Diarra, 35, rolls back the years — 8.53
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.53 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
Seydou Diabaté has gone, the accounts have $310.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
The town believes in Djoliba
Position 2, 40 points, and a ticket office that has not been this busy in years. Nobody says the word; everybody is thinking it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
17 goals and a season average of 7.41. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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.
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 Djoliba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market4 Jan 2027
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Binga for Aboubacar Sidibé 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 paperwork begins on Daouda Koné
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Djoliba have done the hard part with Real Bamako, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Djoliba, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad4 Jan 2027
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Djoliba who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Djoliba prefer.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
$269.4K on the table at Djoliba
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Dec 2026
The run is over for Djoliba
12 matches without defeat, and then Stade Malien. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad28 Dec 2026
12 goals and a season average of 7.32. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fantamady Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Nankoma Keïta 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Stade Malien left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Djoliba
Position 2, 36 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
109% of the income goes out in wages at Djoliba
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Loan watch28 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Djoliba, and 6 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Hamari Samassekou left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
12 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
7‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Lamine Diakité, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match21 Dec 2026
Djoliba are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Fantamady Diarra, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Malick Djiguiba, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.49
A mark of 8.49 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Fantamady Diarra, 34, rolls back the years — 8.55
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.55 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Dec 2026
At 20, Malick Djiguiba is already the best thing here
An average of 7.34 in a first team he is several years too young for. Djoliba have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.39 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Djoliba right now
11 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
4‑0, and Fantamady Diarra took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Fantamady Diarra takes the afternoon — 8.55
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fantamady Diarra provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Malick Djiguiba, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.52
A mark of 8.52 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market14 Dec 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Djoliba keep winning on the road
6 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings14 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.
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Fantamady 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
Triumph
Match5 Dec 2026
Djoliba make it 10 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Djoliba have 10 straight wins of it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Malick Djiguiba at 20 — 8.22
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Malick Djiguiba did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.48, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fantamady Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lamine Diakité. 2‑0 against Binga, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 Dec 2026
11 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Malick Djiguiba is the month’s best young player
At 20 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match28 Nov 2026
Djoliba cannot stop winning
9 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
5‑0, and Lamine Diakité took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Djoliba tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad30 Nov 2026
19 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Malick Djiguiba takes the afternoon — 8.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Malick Djiguiba provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.47, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match28 Nov 2026
Djoliba are at home on the road
5 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.
Squad30 Nov 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 20 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.
In brief
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Match
Djoliba settle it inside twenty minutes
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Squad
Nankoma Keïta falls out with a teammate over standards
-
Boardroom
105% of the income goes out in wages at Djoliba
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Nov 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against AS Police, and it could have been more.
Match23 Nov 2026
Djoliba refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Youssouf Simpara out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Djoliba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Malick Djiguiba at 19 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Malick Djiguiba did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.47, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad23 Nov 2026
At 19, Malick Djiguiba is already the best thing here
An average of 7.09 in a first team he is several years too young for. Djoliba have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad23 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match14 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against FC Diarra, and it could have been more.
Match14 Nov 2026
Djoliba make it 7 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Djoliba have 7 straight wins of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
33 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Malick Djiguiba, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 8.55 at 19, 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Fantamady Diarra, 34, rolls back the years — 8.49
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.49 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad16 Nov 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Djoliba keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fantamady 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Nov 2026
40 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
Djoliba make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Djoliba have 6 straight wins of it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Malick Djiguiba, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
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.
Match7 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Djoliba, 1‑0 the final word against Real Bamako in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nankoma Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match31 Oct 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
47 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match31 Oct 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Malick Djiguiba: 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Djoliba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fantamady 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nankoma Keïta 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.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Djoliba, and 0 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
At 19 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Lamine Diakité at his very best
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Player ratings
Amadou Soumaré beats them one at a time
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Boardroom
105% of the income goes out in wages at Djoliba
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Youssouf Simpara out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Djoliba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Oct 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.
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
A row about effort at Djoliba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fantamady Diarra was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Lamine Diakité’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Djoliba.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.89. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad26 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Aboubacar Diarra
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
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Nankoma Keïta: 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mahamadou Sissoko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 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.
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
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 31 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
Triumph
Squad12 Oct 2026
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Djoliba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 Oct 2026
5‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Youssouf Simpara out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Djoliba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Mahamadou Sissoko, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.61
A mark of 8.61 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.
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
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.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Fantamady Diarra in the middle of it, and US Bougouba unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Oct 2026
Aboubacar Wagué damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A debut Malick Djiguiba will not forget — 7.76
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.76 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.14, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Malick Djiguiba is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Oct 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.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 19 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
US Bougouni made Djoliba work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
In brief
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 127% of the Djoliba income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Boardroom
No investment in the facilities at Djoliba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Aboubacar Wagué damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
85 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Aboubacar Diarra for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Djoliba will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Market28 Sep 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
Djoliba have made Bakary Kouma available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Djoliba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Aboubacar Wagué damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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
Lamine Diakité has improved at 31, 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Djoliba, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Market14 Sep 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
Aboubacar Wagué damages knee ligaments — 58 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
107 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 5 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Djoliba say no — this time
The offer from Flora for Alou Doumbia 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aboubacar Wagué
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Djoliba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad31 Aug 2026
114 days out for Youssouf Simpara after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Djoliba will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nankoma Keïta is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Aboubacar Sidibé has his answer from Djoliba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aboubacar Wagué
72 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Djoliba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Youssouf Simpara out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Djoliba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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
US Bougouni 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Djoliba have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Aboubacar Wagué damages knee ligaments — 80 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
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
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
Squad10 Aug 2026
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Djoliba lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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
US Bougouba 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.
Squad10 Aug 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sekou Sidibe is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samba Maiga 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aboubacar Wagué
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Djoliba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market3 Aug 2026
Binga 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.
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.
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.