Columns · October 2026
France, Europe and the world. The game and everything around it.
OpinionOM, the MTP and the banner as a civic act in Marseille
After Trappes, the MTP did more than protest: it moved the terrace into the city and turned a banner into a public anti-racism statement.
Basil ArtemoffTerraces, Marseille & style
OpinionPSG and Les Marseillaises: when the shirt becomes a public instrument
PSG and Marseille are no longer just dressing a team: they are using the shirt as a civic, charitable and identity-making object. The real question is simple: who now controls the symbol — the club, the sponsor or the cause?
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions
OpinionInter de Limeira and the first real SAF decision: invest in the pitch first
The real test of a SAF is not a photo with famous names. It is where the money goes first, and at Limeira the opening move says a lot about governance.
Inès ValençaLatin America & world football
OpinionFenerbahçe: the coach exit is a timing problem, not just a derby hangover
The defeat at Galatasaray hurt, but the real issue is the calendar: a managerial rupture lands between a cup midweek and a league weekend, with discipline still hanging in the air.
Lucien DelcourtItaly, Germany, Spain & Turkey
OpinionMarseille and the Vélodrome: when the Nord stand becomes a tactical handicap
What is a team worth when it is finally playing better just as its stadium loses part of its voice? Marseille’s sanction is a reminder that a club cannot cleanly separate performance from stand-side disorder.
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions
OpinionBorussia Dortmund’s Fan Mode asks a better question than bans: can rewards protect stadium atmosphere?
Dortmund is testing whether less phone use can be encouraged, not imposed. That matters because the club is trying to defend matchday feeling without turning supporters into content machines.
Inès ValençaLatin America & world football
OpinionWhen the shirt serves the stand: Union Saint-Gilloise, Katowice–Ostrava, PSG
When a shirt becomes a public-health tool, a symbol of supporter friendship or the visible frame for a campaign, the real question is simple: does it serve the club, the brand or the terrace first?
Basil ArtemoffTerraces, Marseille & style
OpinionSan Lorenzo is suing itself through its former president
Why does San Lorenzo’s crisis go beyond a balance sheet? Because a former president is now demanding $270,000 from the club while the current board says it still needs about $700,000 just to unlock sporting operations.
Inès ValençaLatin America & world football
OpinionRennes atop Ligue 1, for now: a compressed table leaves no room for self-congratulation
After the 3-0 win over Strasbourg, Rennes moves top provisionally. In a tight Ligue 1, the point is not the snapshot but what the club does with it.
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions
OpinionUdinese and Runjaic: patience that looks like calculation
After six straight Serie A defeats, Udinese are not only judging their coach. They are measuring what a change would do to recruitment, the dressing-room hierarchy and the next two fixtures.
Lucien DelcourtItaly, Germany, Spain & Turkey
OpinionIn Baku, FIFA’s new U-15 World Cup asks the right question: does more football actually mean better development?
FIFA’s first U-15 World Cup & Festival gives more federations repeated, competitive games. The real test is not the event’s scale in Baku, but what players take away from it.
Inès ValençaLatin America & world football
OpinionNapoli, Allegri and the very practical cost of a two-match ban
Massimiliano Allegri’s suspension is not just a discipline issue: it leaves Napoli without its coach for Monza and Juventus. How much turbulence can a title contender really absorb?
Lucien DelcourtItaly, Germany, Spain & Turkey
OpinionUS Saint-Malo, Les Marseillaises: when the shirt becomes an identity product
Why do special editions now say as much about the club as about the city, and why would Marseille recognise the pattern immediately?
Basil ArtemoffTerraces, Marseille & style
OpinionFrench women’s football is shifting its decisive investment before age 14
PSG’s new U12-U14 preformation centre and LAuRAFoot’s U14F interdistrict pathway show that the real contest is now who builds the first serious bridge into elite development.
Camille LaurentAcademies & breakthrough seasons
OpinionMarseille finally has a shape. The problem is what happens after 60 minutes
Against Le Havre, OM looked structurally clearer for an hour before unraveling. The issue is no longer finding a starting shape, but keeping it alive.
Basil ArtemoffTerraces, Marseille & style
OpinionAt the Vélodrome, OM’s supporters are still the club’s most stable asset
When the club wobbles, the stand holds. And as shirts turn into cultural objects, Marseille is a reminder that a demanding crowd is worth more than any launch campaign.
Basil ArtemoffTerraces, Marseille & style
OpinionFrench football’s smartest move: turning teenage girls into coaches
Nxt Gen Coaches is not a slogan. It is a pathway. For the women’s game, that may be the most important development right now.
Camille LaurentAcademies & breakthrough seasons
The Sunday reviewMorel on Sunday: French football needs to become easier to love
Fixtures move, television rights return to the negotiating table and ambitious clubs keep promising a brighter tomorrow. This week raises a quieter question than any transfer saga, but a more important one: what makes people want to come back for the next match?
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions
OpinionPSG–Lyon: supporters cannot be the spare part
A marquee fixture moves to Monday, a global football ceremony occupies the same evening, and the people who planned their Sunday must adapt. Moving a match can be necessary. Treating its audience as endlessly flexible is a choice.
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions
OpinionParis FC: spending more need not mean starting again
A club’s new ambitions draw attention. The players who were there before usually draw less. That can obscure something valuable: continuity is a footballing resource, provided it never becomes a sentimental excuse for avoiding difficult decisions.
Étienne MorelThe football, the clubs, the decisions