From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Oct 2026
Paradou ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Eyad Tamer is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Eyad Tamer: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Hassan Saber at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hassan Saber did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Abdenour Barkat is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Godoy 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for JS Saoura, 1‑0 the final word against MC Oran in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Alimi Sikiru at his very best
Marked 8.51. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at JS Saoura.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 24 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.68, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Constant Wayou 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Hassan Saber is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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 at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riyane Akacem 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; JS Saoura are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for JS Saoura, 2‑1 the final word against MB Rouissat in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Godoy damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to JS Saoura's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at JS Saoura has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Laid Ayad is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
The chances came and went for Alimi Sikiru
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rodrigo Godoy
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market21 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oussama Bentaleb will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around JS Saoura the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Constant Wayou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rodrigo Godoy
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A first appearance Mostapha Badaoui will want to forget — 5.80
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.80, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Eyad Tamer 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Godoy 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market14 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. JS Saoura will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
Rodrigo Godoy damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mostapha Badaoui is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market7 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aissa Bennacer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market7 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Faouzi Bounedjah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market7 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abderrahmane Benrahma 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
Squad31 Aug 2026
Rodrigo Godoy damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what JS Saoura can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Mohamed Medjaji joins from ASO Chlef in a deal worth $160.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Saoura have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
JS Saoura sell a favourite for $190.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Abdeldjalil Ould Ammar was one of the reasons people came, and $190.0K does not replace that by itself.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
$290.0K 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.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
JS Saoura sell a favourite for $290.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Khaled Mounir Allaoui was one of the reasons people came, and $290.0K does not replace that by itself.
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 JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Abdeldjalil Ould Ammar has come up in conversations JS Saoura were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kamel Belmiloud has his answer from JS Saoura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Semelo Gueï and JS Saoura agree another 3 years.
Squad10 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 JS Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Saoura have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Semelo Gueï asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Constant Wayou commits to JS Saoura for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Constant Wayou was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abdulrahman Muniru is living that version at JS Saoura, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ismail Saadi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at JS Saoura, another week without a signature from Adel Bouchiba.
Market3 Aug 2026
No place for Laid Ayad in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Laid Ayad has his answer from JS Saoura; what he does with it is the next window’s story.