From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 The request is on a desk at MC El Bayadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 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 MC El Bayadh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and MC El Bayadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Hachoud was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdelhak Benaceur is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad14 Sep 2026
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at MC El Bayadh
11 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ahmed Feghouli chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Abdellah Meddah 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by CS Constantine, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at MC El Bayadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 0 out at MC El Bayadh
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Anis Khemaissia and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
1 academy graduates step up at MC El Bayadh
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdellah Meddah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market7 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Karim Ghoulam has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 MC El Bayadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A move Anis Khemaissia would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Anis Khemaissia is living that version at MC El Bayadh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdelkadir Salhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at MC El Bayadh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anis Khemaissia is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wadi Degla have kept their man, and MC El Bayadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
ASO Chlef have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CS Constantine in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market31 Aug 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and MC El Bayadh have gone and got theirs early.
Market31 Aug 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Houssam Zouraghi is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at MC El Bayadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
ES Setif come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and MC El Bayadh did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
MC El Bayadh had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ASO Chlef, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ahmed El Sheikh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to ES Mostaganem: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Abdelkadir Salhi 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Sofiane Abdellaoui has come up in conversations MC El Bayadh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dhayfallah Kadri commits to MC El Bayadh for another 3 years.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
ASO Chlef have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Abdelkadir Salhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. El Masry have kept their man, and MC El Bayadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Youcef Benayada 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Abdelhak Mahrez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Omar Bellahcene has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mourad Mahrez 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
“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 MC El Bayadh, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdelkadir Salhi and MC El Bayadh agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Abdelkadir Salhi 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ittihad have kept their man, and MC El Bayadh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 MC El Bayadh, another week without a signature from Abdelkadir Salhi.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
El Masry have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Adel Ghanem's contract
49 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.