From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
132 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Red Star lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 23 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Durivaux 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Gaëtan Poussin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Red Star say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Red Star. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Kemo Cissé 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Junior Eto’o is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Godson Kyeremeh
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Red Star
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Durivaux was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 90% of everything Red Star earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.42. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market5 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Mahamadou Diawara at 21 — 8.14
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mahamadou Diawara did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 27 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kemo Cissé 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
5 new faces, and Red Star 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 dugout28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Mahamadou Diawara to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against AS Nancy, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 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.” Didier Julien chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Bourg-Peronnas, and it could have been more.
Match16 Sep 2026
Red Star bow out of the cup
Stade Rennais go through and Red Star go home, 2‑6 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Stade Rennais leaves Red Star explaining themselves
2-6, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Match16 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Red Star and Stade Rennais, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 9.41 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Kemo Cissé 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Werder Bremen is saying, and nobody at Red Star is enjoying the guessing.
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 Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kévin Cabral. 1‑0 against Sochaux, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Durivaux 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.85. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Didier Julien could afford to be generous.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jovany Ikanga
“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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Kévin Cabral takes the afternoon — 9.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kévin Cabral provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 8.31 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 2 out at Red Star
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Red Star have done the hard part with Werder Bremen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Mahamadou Diawara 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Damien Durand was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kemo Cissé 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
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Dembo Sylla beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Red Star had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mouscron, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to AC Ajaccio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Islamdine Halifa 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Didier Julien after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Red Star have made the call to Dynamo Kyiv. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Werder Bremen 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
Dylan Durivaux is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Diadé Camara 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 Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Jablonec is saying, and nobody at Red Star is enjoying the guessing.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Gaëtan Poussin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Red Star asked and Chamois Niortais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Chamois Niortais left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Nobody could get near Kemo Cissé
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Durivaux is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Leonardo Buta is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kévin Cabral takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market17 Aug 2026
KV Oostende paid $3.5M and Red Star took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Dembo Sylla goes up and wins it — 7.92
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Carrarese keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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 Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Kévin Cabral at his very best
Marked 9.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Red Star.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
1 academy graduates step up at Red Star
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Red Star asked and Flamengo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Red Star have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Red Star have done the hard part with Astra, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Udinese keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdelsamad Hachem commits to Red Star for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Monza have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Makan Traoré 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alexandre Lopez 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
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Red Star have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gaëtan Poussin and Red Star agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Red Star
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kévin Cabral. 2‑1 against Clermont Foot, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match1 Aug 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Kévin Cabral in the middle of it, and Clermont Foot unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.46, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Gaëtan Poussin'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.