Marked for Fabio Lima
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Baniyas
Salem Hussain and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.20 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market25 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Baniyas will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Lionel Verde 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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. Baniyas will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
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 ratings18 Jan 2027
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.37 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $2.7M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al Jazira drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market18 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Youssoufou Niakaté again, and this time the name on the line is Dibba. Baniyas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sharjah is saying, and nobody at Baniyas is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Baniyas
Salem Hussain 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
14 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Fabio Lima runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Dec 2026
Baniyas bow out of the cup
Al Jazira go through and Baniyas go home, 0‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Saviour Godwin takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saviour Godwin provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
A cup embarrassment at Al Jazira follows Baniyas home
0-3. 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Up for the corner, and João Victor delivers — 7.85
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. João Victor scored, was marked 7.85, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for Baniyas, 3‑1 the final word against Al Shaab in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Baniyas dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 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.” Mahmoud Al Naqbi kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Fabio Lima gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fabio Lima is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Fabio Lima
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Al Dhafra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Fawaz Awana
“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 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Baniyas
Hamdan Abdulrahman 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 dugout14 Dec 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mahmoud Al Naqbi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Baniyas man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Munas Dabbur was the best thing in any of them.
Looking ahead14 Dec 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Shaab in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alassane Diallo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
The run is over for Baniyas
8 matches without defeat, and then Al Wasl. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Baniyas
Salem Hussain and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Baniyas against Al Wasl
0‑1 to Al Wasl, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Baniyas at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 5, 23 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mahmoud Al Naqbi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
João Victor gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say João Victor is on it.
Match30 Nov 2026
Baniyas have something to play for
Position 5 on 23 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Omar Abdulrahman
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Nov 2026
Whatever happens, Baniyas do not lose
8 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Baniyas
Salem Hussain 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Baniyas support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Fawaz Awana
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Al Nasr came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Khamis Saleh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Baniyas will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Omar Abdulrahman
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match14 Nov 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al Ahli, and it could have been more.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Both of them Fabio Lima's — 8.49
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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match14 Nov 2026
7 unbeaten for Baniyas
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Baniyas did not have in the autumn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Fawaz Awana 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ismail Saeed 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Mohamed Awad Alla at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Baniyas.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Mahmoud Al Naqbi could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al Wahda, and it could have been more.
Match26 Oct 2026
Baniyas up to position 3
17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Fabio Lima, 33, rolls back the years — 8.05
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.05 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Hamdan Abdulrahman 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud Al Naqbi on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Baniyas
Something was said to Malek Janeer and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Momodou Jatta is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 25 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
A falling-out at Baniyas
Fawaz Awana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Sharjah made Baniyas work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match26 Sep 2026
Baniyas keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.26 — 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fawaz Awana, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mahmoud Al Naqbi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market28 Sep 2026
Baniyas have made Youssoufou Niakaté available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Jazira in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
Al Shaab will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Baniyas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Munas Dabbur, 34, rolls back the years — 8.27
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Munas Dabbur 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
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saif Al-Menhali is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mahamadou Camara has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ismail Saeed 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mahmoud Al Naqbi on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
14 seasons and 232 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saviour Godwin and Baniyas agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Baniyas
Munas Dabbur and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Ahmed Fawzi again, and this time the name on the line is Dibba. Baniyas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Fabio Lima has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Baniyas know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Saviour Godwin'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.