Marked for Adham Hamed
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Hamza Khaled: 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.” Petrojet have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Petrojet
Ahmed Yassin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Petrojet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Limouri 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
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.
Match28 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Mostafa El Badry at his very best
Marked 8.52. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Petrojet.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
The afternoon ran through Badr Mousa
Chances created: 14. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Market30 Nov 2026
No place for Adham Hamed in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Adham Hamed has his answer from Petrojet; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hicham El Majhed and Petrojet agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match3 Oct 2026
Zamalek left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Youssef Limouri 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Petrojet
Karim El Deeb 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Petrojet is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market5 Oct 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Hicham El Majhed’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Walid Salah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market5 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Islam Abdallah has his answer from Petrojet; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Mohamed Dodo
“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
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Petrojet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Limouri 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Petrojet
Ahmed Yassin 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samir Mohamed. 2‑0 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Appearance number 100 for Ahmed Yassin
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Adham Hamed
“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 ratings28 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.78, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
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.” Walid Salah, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Sep 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
Market14 Sep 2026
Adham Hamed 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 Petrojet can pretend not to have heard.
Match12 Sep 2026
Wadi Degla made Petrojet work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Youssef Limouri 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
At 23 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Mostafa El Badry was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Yassin, and the manager let it.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Petrojet, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Petrojet
Omar Tharwat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.