Marked for Sinali Béré
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Asdrúbal, 35, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Al-Shoulla — 7.31
1 for Ahmed Al-Habib, marked 7.31, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 3‑1 win over Al-Nahda, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Nov 2026
Going 3 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. Al-Shoulla rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Al-Saudi Al-Watani had no answer to any of it.
Market30 Nov 2026
Musa Magagula 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 Al-Shoulla can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.49, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Omar Al-Muzayil: 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.” Al-Shoulla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Asdrúbal
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“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; Al-Shoulla are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
211% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Shoulla
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Player ratings
Tolba Mohamed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
Off the bench and decisive: Grey Garbino
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 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 Al-Shoulla can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Kissimbo scores twice — 8.52
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.49, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Al-Shoulla's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Shoulla has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“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; Al-Shoulla are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Al-Shoulla and Al-Mojzel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
5‑5, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Nov 2026
Al-Nassr go through and Al-Shoulla 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.
Match16 Nov 2026
Al-Shoulla are in real trouble now
Position 14, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A brace, and David Rodríguez takes the afternoon — 8.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Al-Shoulla
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Shoulla are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Shoulla and Al-Jeel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaime Romero, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Al-Shoulla
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Shoulla are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Al-Shoulla are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Nidhal Ben Salem takes the afternoon — 7.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nidhal Ben Salem provided it, and the 7.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
211% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Shoulla
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
8 new faces, and Al-Shoulla 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Shoulla scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Oct 2026
Al-Batin made Al-Shoulla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Favio Brizuela
“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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.10 — 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
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Shoulla know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sinali Béré 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
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 246% of everything Al-Shoulla 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Damac left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market5 Oct 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Nawaf Al-Duraywish leaves Al-Shoulla the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Ezequiel Sánchez scored in the 89th minute, Al-Njoom had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al-Shoulla took the lot.
Player ratings28 Sep 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.74, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A goal and an assist for Grey Garbino — 7.66
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.66 beside his name.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 3‑2, and it was Ezequiel Sánchez’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Shoulla.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Squad21 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
4 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.
Match9 Sep 2026
Al-Nahda are out and Al-Shoulla go through, 8‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al-Shoulla
A 0‑5 beating by Al-Diriyah was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Tolba Mohamed scored one and made one — 7.61
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.61, and 5 involvements.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.10 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Sep 2026
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Shoulla and Al-Nahda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Al-Fayha left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Rodríguez, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al-Shoulla will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market24 Aug 2026
A season-long audition: Damac still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Al-Shoulla's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Asdrúbal runs at them all day
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Shoulla
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nidhal Ben Salem. 2‑0 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saeed Al-Dosari 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Yasser Al-Shammari 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Faisal Al-Khaibari 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Salman Al-Mansour has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tolba Mohamed and Al-Shoulla agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sinali Béré 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Raghdan Matri has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Shoulla.
Squad10 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Grey Garbino
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al-Shoulla will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al-Shoulla
6 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nidhal Ben Salem and Al-Shoulla agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Kissimbo told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kissimbo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Shoulla.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Asdrúbal
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Al-Shoulla will not keep him by pretending otherwise.