From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match8 Feb 2027
AS Nancy refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 53 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at St. Gallen is saying, and nobody at AS Nancy is enjoying the guessing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Walid Bouabdeli and AS Nancy agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at AS Nancy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemiah Fernandez 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Ludovic Ajorque
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ludovic Ajorque has come out of that comparison in the side, and AS Nancy have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market8 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS Nancy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Brandon Bokangu is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 0 in, 2 out at AS Nancy
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Le Havre AC paid $200.0K and AS Nancy took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemiah Fernandez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
AS Nancy asked and Paris Saint-Germain said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Ipswich Town 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A loan move for Andrin Hunziker is in the works
AS Nancy have made the call to St. Gallen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“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; AS Nancy are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Nehemiah Fernandez trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. AS Nancy have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AS Nancy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zenit keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
At 21, Victor Orakpo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.14 in a first team he is several years too young for. AS Nancy have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Market25 Jan 2027
Tours pay $420.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Avellino have kept their man, and AS Nancy go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jan 2027
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Adrien Julloux 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
Squad18 Jan 2027
36 goals and a season average of 8.00. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market18 Jan 2027
Eibar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AS Nancy did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Victor Orakpo at 21 — 8.33
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Victor Orakpo did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Venezia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match16 Jan 2027
AS Nancy make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AS Nancy have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad18 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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for AS Nancy. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad11 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Ludovic Ajorque
35 goals and a season average of 8.00 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match11 Jan 2027
AS Nancy up to position 3
50 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Justin Bourgault at 21 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Justin Bourgault did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The paperwork begins on Saliou Diop
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS Nancy have done the hard part with Stade Brestois, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at AS Nancy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemiah Fernandez 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ludovic Ajorque. 3‑1 against Dijon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad4 Jan 2027
33 goals and a season average of 7.96. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Enzo Basilio
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. AS Nancy will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Nehemiah Fernandez 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ludovic Ajorque. 3‑2 against Nimes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
AS Nancy 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.91 with 31 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match26 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for AS Nancy
A 2‑5 beating by Red Star was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Ludovic Ajorque takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ludovic Ajorque provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ludovic Ajorque 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
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AS Nancy and Red Star in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at AS Nancy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemiah Fernandez 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
After 4 games, AS Nancy finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Red Star; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
29 goals and a season average of 7.87. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match19 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑3 against Valenciennes, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Victor Orakpo at 20 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Victor Orakpo did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play AS Nancy 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.
Squad21 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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
Victor Orakpo among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Victor Orakpo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AS Nancy and Valenciennes.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Ludovic Ajorque, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad14 Dec 2026
27 goals and a season average of 7.81. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match12 Dec 2026
7‑0, and Ludovic Ajorque took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS Nancy tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match14 Dec 2026
AS Nancy up to position 3
41 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Justin Bourgault, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
AS Nancy cannot stop winning
3 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between AS Nancy and Bourg-Peronnas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ludovic Ajorque
22 goals and a season average of 7.72 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match5 Dec 2026
Clermont Foot will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AS Nancy were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad7 Dec 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.64 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 ratings7 Dec 2026
Rayan Bamba beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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 terraces7 Dec 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
At 20, Victor Orakpo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.00 in a first team he is several years too young for. AS Nancy have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Pape Meïssa Bâ
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sochaux, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at AS Nancy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jérémy Gélin is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Shots: 19, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
Match18 Nov 2026
AS Nancy bow out of the cup
Stade Rennais go through and AS Nancy go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.62 with 19 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad23 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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Enzo Tacafred did the work nobody counts — 7.13
12 combined actions and 7.13. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.07, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match21 Nov 2026
AS Nancy rescue it on 85 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Tours had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jérémy Gélin, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrien Julloux was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A season average of 7.59 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match16 Nov 2026
AS Nancy refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 31 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemiah Fernandez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Martin Expérience 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
The game went through Rayan Bamba — 7.48
Marked 7.48 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.19, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ludovic Ajorque
16 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jérémy Gélin falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Cazim Suljic
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Oct 2026
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. AS Nancy rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and AC Ajaccio had no answer to any of it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ludovic Ajorque
14 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 3‑2 win over AC Ajaccio, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Rayan Bamba ran the middle of the pitch — 7.28
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.28, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match2 Nov 2026
Halfway: AS Nancy sit in position 3
28 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adrien Julloux was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Nehemiah Fernandez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enzo Tacafred, and the manager let it.
Market26 Oct 2026
The name of Ludovic Ajorque keeps appearing in other people's back pages. AS Nancy say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Cazim Suljic knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS Nancy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Brandon Bokangu is on it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market26 Oct 2026
AS Nancy have let the market know Jonathan Gonçalvès can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Enzo Basilio
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Ludovic Ajorque takes the afternoon — 8.91
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ludovic Ajorque provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match19 Oct 2026
AS Nancy are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pape Niama Sissoko is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Ludovic Ajorque
12 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match17 Oct 2026
Chamois Niortais left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
-
The dugout
No hiding place for Enzo Basilio
-
Player ratings
Nobody could get near Joseph Guyot
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Ludovic Ajorque takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ludovic Ajorque provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, AS Nancy do not lose
8 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A season average of 7.36 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match10 Oct 2026
Dijon made AS Nancy work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Pape Meïssa Bâ at his very best
Marked 8.90. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS Nancy.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. AS Nancy will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Cazim Suljic
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ludovic Ajorque and AS Nancy agree another 3 years.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, AS Nancy do not lose
7 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between AS Nancy and Nimes, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 4‑2 win over Nimes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nehemiah Fernandez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces5 Oct 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Pape Meïssa Bâ
10 goals and a season average of 7.28 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
Upbeat
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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, AS Nancy do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match26 Sep 2026
After 5 games, AS Nancy finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Red Star; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jérémy Gélin 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings28 Sep 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Pape Meïssa Bâ to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Red Star, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match16 Sep 2026
AS Nancy through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Stade Brestois, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match21 Sep 2026
AS Nancy refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 18 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
AS Nancy make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now AS Nancy have 5 straight wins of it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Lenny Piètre, 20, steals the show — 7.79
Marked 7.79 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Ilyes Housni beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lenny Piètre has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Sep 2026
AS Nancy 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ludovic Ajorque’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AS Nancy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
Bourg-Peronnas will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. AS Nancy were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad14 Sep 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.74 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
AS Nancy cannot stop winning
3 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AS Nancy and Bourg-Peronnas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AS Nancy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nehemiah Fernandez 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
AS Nancy close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ludovic Ajorque 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 targets7 Sep 2026
AS Nancy offered $430.0K; Tours 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
AS Nancy asked and Zenit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Sep 2026
Clermont Foot made AS Nancy work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jérémy Gélin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cazim Suljic, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Enzo Basilio
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
AS Nancy have gone to Tours with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets31 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.
Squad31 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 AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sochaux made AS Nancy work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Adrien Julloux 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. AS Nancy know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for AS Nancy
A 2‑6 beating by Tours was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market24 Aug 2026
Stade Brestois did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.9M for Ludovic Ajorque, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
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 AS Nancy, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
No deal for Allan Ackra at that price
AS Nancy offered $1.3M; Clermont Foot 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between AS Nancy and Tours, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The town asked, and AS Nancy paid $4.9M
Ludovic Ajorque was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $4.9M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Ludovic Ajorque and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Stade Brestois; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Clermont Foot this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑3 to Stade Lavallois, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at AS Nancy
Martin Expérience and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Enzo Basilio gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jérémy Gélin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Aug 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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Victor Orakpo, 20, steals the show — 9.45
Marked 9.45 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Transfer targets10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pape Meïssa Bâ and AS Nancy agree another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Martin Expérience 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
At 20 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thomas Rivière 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
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against AC Ajaccio, and it could have been more.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.61, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ilyes Housni, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.01
A mark of 8.01 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 ratings3 Aug 2026
Rayan Bamba beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Zakaria Fdaouch and AS Nancy agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
AS Nancy asked and Leyton Orient said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Nancy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AS Nancy
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jérémy Gélin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.