Marked for Jemerson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zamalek is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Zamalek
Abdallah Aboutrika 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 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jemerson and Zamalek agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Zamalek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Kaied was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about El Sayed Osama again, and this time the name on the line is Ittihad. Zamalek are listening politely and promising nothing.
Loan watch9 Aug 2027
“I did not go to ASO Chlef to sit and watch. I want to come back to Zamalek and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market9 Aug 2027
El Dakhleya are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Zamalek will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Mahmoud El Wensh 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Omar Abdelaziz
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zamalek have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match2 Aug 2027
Zamalek refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 73 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market2 Aug 2027
El Dakhleya come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Zamalek did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Ahmed Khodary
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Khodary will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zamalek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Zamalek
Abdallah Aboutrika and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Jemerson signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jemerson commits to Zamalek for another 2 years.
Squad2 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Zamalek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ilias Boumassaoudi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Too much change too quickly at Zamalek
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.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
Lucas Bruera has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamalek 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
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zamalek have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market21 Jun 2027
Zamalek spend $2.4M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.4M has been paid because Ilias Boumassaoudi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market21 Jun 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 Zamalek, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Zamalek
Sean Klaiber 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Zamalek asked and Ismaily said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mohamed El Sayed is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Abdallah Aboutrika 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
Ahmed Sherif 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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Oday Dabbagh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Zamalek 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
Steady
Boardroom31 May 2027
Continental nights are coming to Zamalek
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Squad31 May 2027
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Zamalek had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market31 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Ahmed Khaled
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Khaled will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zamalek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 May 2027
At 21 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Zamalek
Lucas Bruera 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.
Market31 May 2027
Ahmed Magdy returns a better player
29 games and 1 goals away from here, and a man the manager did not have last summer. The loan did what loans are supposed to do and almost never do.
Squad31 May 2027
A row about effort at Zamalek
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jemerson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Khaled, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad12 Apr 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Abdallah Aboutrika
32 goals and a season average of 7.60 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match10 Apr 2027
4‑0, and Abdallah Aboutrika took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zamalek tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match12 Apr 2027
Zamalek refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 69 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The match ball belongs to Abdallah Aboutrika, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market12 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zamalek is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A performance of 9.96 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Zamalek
Lucas Bruera 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Haras El Hodoud tried to reorganise, Zamalek did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Jemerson 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad22 Mar 2027
29 goals and a season average of 7.56. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match20 Mar 2027
Zamalek cannot stop winning
5 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Ibrahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zamalek the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Ahmed Khaled is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 10.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Zamalek.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zamalek this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.50 with 25 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Jemerson: 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.” Zamalek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Feb 2027
9 unbeaten for Zamalek
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Zamalek did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zamalek is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Three points for Zamalek, 3‑1 the final word against ENPPI in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Zamalek
Jemerson 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Feb 2027
3‑0, and Oday Dabbagh took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zamalek tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.73, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A season average of 7.46 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market22 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zamalek they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Mahmoud Gehad: 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.” Zamalek have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match20 Feb 2027
Still nobody has beaten Zamalek
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Zamalek can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Zamalek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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
Market18 Jan 2027
Terms done: Amr Nasser is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al Gaish waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zamalek is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match18 Jan 2027
Zamalek are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 41 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Zamalek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Mahmoud El Wensh 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zamalek have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Jemerson 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Smouha will make the call about Omar Abdelaziz this week. Zamalek have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zamalek people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.35 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ahmed Khaled is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Zamalek training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdallah Aboutrika 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Zamalek
Jemerson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
He is 23 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 2‑0 win over El Dakhleya, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market11 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Amr Nasser again, and this time the name on the line is Al Gaish. Zamalek are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
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.