Marked for Thapelo Maseko
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 20. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
181% of the income goes out in wages at AEL
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Miguel Núñez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Dec 2026
22 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Aubrey Modiba damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market28 Dec 2026
Nuno Santos 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 Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings28 Dec 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Thapelo Morena 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bathusi Aubaas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
105% of the income goes out in wages at Mamelodi Sundowns
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, AEL do not lose
19 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Dec 2026
AEL make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Nicolás Milesi
“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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dušan Stevanović 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
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, AEL do not lose
16 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Dec 2026
5 matches without a win for AEL
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around AEL are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Luther Singh 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 AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nicolás Milesi 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted AEL
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at AEL can tell you which week it ends in.
Match5 Dec 2026
AEL make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 7.48 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, AEL had the best player on the pitch.
Squad7 Dec 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Nov 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 18 matches without defeat is a foundation Mamelodi Sundowns did not have in the autumn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mamelodi Sundowns may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bathusi Aubaas 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bathusi Aubaas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Mamelodi Sundowns
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Nov 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Luther Singh 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 AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Nov 2026
AEL up to position 2
18 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Match31 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 11. 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Július Szӧke 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Milesi 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 174% of everything AEL 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Thapelo Maseko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AEL.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Bruno Almeida
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
14 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Nov 2026
Marcelo Allende wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brayan León. 2‑0 against SuperSport United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bathusi Aubaas 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bathusi Aubaas, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Mamelodi Sundowns
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Oct 2026
10 unbeaten for AEL
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation AEL did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dušan Stevanović 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 7.77. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Nicolás Milesi dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten AEL
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
AEL supporters have found a favourite in Thapelo Maseko
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Thapelo Maseko 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Thapelo Maseko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to AEL.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Thapelo Maseko at his very best
Marked 8.04. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AEL.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Oct 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Mamelodi Sundowns training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mothobi Mvala 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Grant Kekana
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Brayan León named player of the week
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Brayan León has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Match17 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Golden Arrows defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Thapelo Maseko’s exile
4 goals in 7 games at AEL — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Mamelodi Sundowns updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, AEL 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Luther Singh 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 AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Diego Castillo, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Thapelo Maseko has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AEL 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
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at AEL
Luther Singh 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Whatever happens, AEL 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
221% of the income goes out in wages at AEL
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at AEL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dušan Stevanović 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.23. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Anorthosis will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Thapelo Maseko obliged against Ermis. 4‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is AEL.
Match26 Sep 2026
Thapelo Maseko wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Thapelo Maseko found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Apollon went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Thapelo Maseko takes the afternoon — 8.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thapelo Maseko provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Luther Singh 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 AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, AEL 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nicolás Milesi 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Milesi, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
AEL get the job done against Apollon
A 1‑0 win over Apollon, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Themba Zwane yet — 7.91
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match26 Sep 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ronwen Williams 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Keanu Cupido pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match26 Sep 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Themba Zwane in the middle of it, and Chippa United unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Nuno Santos at his very best
Marked 8.39. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Mamelodi Sundowns.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Mamelodi Sundowns training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bathusi Aubaas 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
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match19 Sep 2026
7 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns can tell you which week it ends in.
Match19 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Themba Zwane 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Mamelodi Sundowns training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grant Kekana 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.17 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Mamelodi Sundowns had the best player on the pitch.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Thapelo Morena dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kaizer Chiefs? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 6.78, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AEL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for AEL, 2‑1 the final word against Omonoia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dušan Stevanović 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.
Squad14 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. AEL will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.