From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Sochaux make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sochaux have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sochaux
Julien Masson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Boubacar Fofana
12 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Boubacar Fofana. 1‑0 against AC Ajaccio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Hamza Sakhi 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 7.83. 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Jean Giraud: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Samy Baghdadi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sochaux have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match7 Nov 2026
Sochaux 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Julien Masson 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Chamois Niortais, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Joan Tincres 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samy Baghdadi 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Boubacar Fofana takes the afternoon — 8.89
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Boubacar Fofana provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Joan Tincres in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Sochaux get the job done against Nimes
A 2‑1 win over Nimes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
11 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Chances created: 13. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
Match2 Nov 2026
Halfway: Sochaux sit in position 4
20 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jean Giraud kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Boubacar Fofana took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sochaux tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Boubacar Fofana takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Boubacar Fofana provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Hamza Sakhi 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jean Giraud kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
The pass was always on for Kapit Djoco
Chances created: 11. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The plan did not have a place for Joan Tincres
Nobody at Sochaux is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sochaux
Julien Masson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Louicius Deedson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
Clermont Foot left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Sochaux
10 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
No place in the plan for Joan Tincres
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
Valenciennes next, and one man in the Sochaux dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Sochaux
0‑3 against Tours, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 18 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
A falling-out at Sochaux
Joan Tincres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathieu Peybernes, and the manager let it.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
Doors closed at Sochaux
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Boubacar Fofana's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Jean Giraud left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Boubacar Fofana takes the afternoon — 9.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Boubacar Fofana provided it, and the 9.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Julien Masson 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
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Joshua Frau is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Boubacar Fofana. 3‑2 against US Creteil, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jean Giraud kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Hamza Sakhi
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
23 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samy Baghdadi 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I want to play”: Joan Tincres speaks
“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.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Boubacar Fofana signs something — a contract at Sochaux or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Match16 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Sochaux
1‑5 against Toulouse FC, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Dijon spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
A cup embarrassment at Toulouse FC follows Sochaux home
1-5. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Match16 Sep 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sochaux and Toulouse FC in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match19 Sep 2026
At last: Sochaux win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Dijon. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Julien Masson 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jonathan Mexique was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Sochaux's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sochaux has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: KV Oostende keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑3 to Red Star, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sochaux
Joan Tincres and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Jean Giraud to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Benjamin Gomel
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The formation has left Amine Karraoui behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sochaux will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Julien Masson goes up and wins it — 7.97
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 7.97 for the rest of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 9 in, 7 out at Sochaux
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with KV Oostende, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Sochaux
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sochaux are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Julien Masson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Louicius Deedson 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Sochaux asked and Standard Liege said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The formation has left Hamza Sakhi behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sochaux will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by AS Nancy, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Hamza Sakhi arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hamza Sakhi has, at Sochaux, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Julien Masson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sochaux asked and San Luis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Bendjaloud Youssouf 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 dugout31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
54 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Jean Giraud left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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 Sochaux can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sochaux
Julien Masson 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
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CFR Cluj have kept their man, and Sochaux go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Standard Liege: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Braga: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thibault Fournier and Sochaux agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Stade Lavallois leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Aug 2026
AS Nancy come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sochaux did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$6.1M was the most the club would pay and Monaco were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Julien Masson 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Joan Tincres from Le Havre AC for $1.6M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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
1‑2 to AC Ajaccio, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Karim Boullif
“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.
Market17 Aug 2026
He is 20, and nobody at Sochaux signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sochaux have gone to Monaco 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris FC have kept their man, and Sochaux go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$1.6M on the table at Le Havre AC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karim Boullif commits to Sochaux for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dylan Tavares 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
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Redwan Bourlès 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.35 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Nimes spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julien Masson commits to Sochaux for another 4 years.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Sochaux, 3‑2 the final word against Nimes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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 targets3 Aug 2026
Sochaux asked and Benevento 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 Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.