Marked for Sofiane Bendebka
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Aboubacar Bah, 21, steals the show — 7.87
Marked 7.87 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.96, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match19 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Al-Hazem 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Hazem
Afimico Pululu 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jindřich Staněk 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 terraces21 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Afimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bruno Varela decides it from twelve yards
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match9 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem through in the cup
A 3‑3 win over Al-Khaleej, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Sep 2026
Al-Jeel will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Hazem were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Afimico Pululu takes the afternoon — 8.68
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afimico Pululu provided it, and the 8.68 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.09 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sofiane Bendebka 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jindřich Staněk 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
Whatever happens, Al-Hazem 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Afimico Pululu 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bonheur Mugisha and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Loreintz Rosier 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saad Al-Rashid is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Al-Enezi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ali Al-Qahtani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohammed Al-Nemer 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.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bonheur Mugisha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead10 Aug 2026
Al-Orobah next, and one man in the Al-Hazem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.