Marked for Karim Ashraf
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Jeel
14 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market16 Aug 2027
Al-Jeel say no — this time
The offer from Gor Mahia for Thamsanqa Ndelu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Haythem Ayouni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
1 academy graduates step up at Al-Jeel
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Maxwell Quaye did the work nobody counts — 6.84
12 combined actions and 6.84. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Market16 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdullah Al-Dawsari 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Aug 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sami Al-Mutairi
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Jeel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Jeel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Aug 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 Al-Jeel, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
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Squad9 Aug 2027
Simphiwe Masilela is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Jeel can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
No deal for Rayan Siddiq at that price
Al-Jeel offered $2.0K; Al-Saudi Al-Watani said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market9 Aug 2027
Add another name to the list: Tusker have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Simphiwe Masilela. The answer from Al-Jeel has not changed — yet.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nafea Al-Sumairi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Jun 2027
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match28 Jun 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Jeel
Position 15 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and AFC Leopards waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Jeel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 23 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Al-Jeel had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hajer, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Jeel
Haythem Ayouni 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Maxwell Quaye has improved at 29, 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Shanqiti, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Jeel
Position 15 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The dugout31 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Jeel
Haythem Ayouni 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Al-Jeel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naser 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.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thamsanqa Ndelu, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market31 May 2027
Al-Jeel have made Abdullah Al-Suwaie available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad31 May 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market31 May 2027
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Mohammed Al-Nafisah leaves Al-Jeel the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 May 2027
Naser Salem has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Jeel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Karim Ashraf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Al-Jeel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naser 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages swallow 145% of the Al-Jeel income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nafea Al-Sumairi, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ra'ed will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad10 May 2027
A falling-out at Al-Ra'ed
Aiman Yahya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 May 2027
A row about effort at Al-Ra'ed
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Al-Yousif was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
Moussa Koné 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 Moussa Koné is on it.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Zinho Gano’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdullah Hazazi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Loan watch10 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Karim Ashraf’s exile
5 goals in 25 games at Al-Jeel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Ra'ed updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout10 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Ra'ed. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad10 May 2027
Musleh Al-Shaikh is not doing himself any favours
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Jeel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Jeel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Haythem Ayouni and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Naser 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.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 124% of everything Al-Jeel 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hussein Al-Tuti, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market19 Apr 2027
Al-Jeel have made Naser Salem available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The penny has dropped for Karim Ashraf
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al-Jeel the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
Zinho Gano 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Oumar Gonzalez 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Al-Ra'ed
5 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 dugout12 Apr 2027
When it matters, Moussa Koné plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market12 Apr 2027
The Zinho Gano talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
25 appearances away from home and 5 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Abdullah Hazazi: 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-Ra'ed have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Zinho Gano 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Al-Ra'ed training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Gonzalez 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Too much change too quickly at Al-Ra'ed
7 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Moussa Koné has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
The Zinho Gano talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
25 appearances at Al-Jeel and the goals keep coming. Al-Ra'ed are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A wage question at Al-Ra'ed
Solomon Tweh has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Bander Whaeshi asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Zinho Gano 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.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Faisaly have kept their man, and Al-Ra'ed go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Abdullah Al-Yousif 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Musaed Al-Johani and Al-Ra'ed agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Al-Ra'ed 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Moussa Koné has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Ra'ed 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
The Zinho Gano talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ra'ed know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
9 matches without a win for Al-Jeel
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Al-Jeel are no longer polite ones.
Match8 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Jeel
Position 14 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad8 Feb 2027
45 days out for Ahmed Al-Nadhri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match6 Feb 2027
Al-Jeel leaking at the back
8 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Everything agreed with Al-Ettifaq, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Naser Salem 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Al-Batin left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haythem Ayouni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Al-Otaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Jeel lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match30 Jan 2027
8 matches without a win for Al-Jeel
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Al-Jeel are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Feb 2027
52 days out for Ahmed Al-Nadhri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gor Mahia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Jeel is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match30 Jan 2027
Al-Jeel are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Jeel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
The knee: Naser Salem out for 28 days
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Dec 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Al-Hazem, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ahmed Al-Nadhri out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Jeel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Naser Salem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Al-Jeel
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Jeel can tell you which week it ends in.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 196% of everything Al-Jeel 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Al-Jeel 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 dugout28 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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Salem Al-Sulami to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
The knee: Naser Salem out for 49 days
49 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Jeel lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Ahmed Al-Nadhri out for 111 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Jeel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Dec 2026
At last: Al-Jeel win one
10 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Mojzel. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Naser Salem 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-Jeel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Sofiane Dia beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces7 Dec 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Karim Ashraf. 2‑0 against Al-Mojzel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Karim Ashraf at his very best
Marked 8.34. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Jeel.
Player ratings7 Dec 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.
In brief
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Squad
Maxwell Quaye falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
No hiding place for Saud Al-Ruwaili
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Al-Jeel
10 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad30 Nov 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-Jeel know it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Naser Salem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 192% of the Al-Jeel income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haythem Ayouni was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
140 days out for Ahmed Al-Nadhri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for Al-Jeel
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Al-Jeel are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Naser Salem 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-Jeel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Al-Jeel cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market9 Nov 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Al-Shehri 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Jeel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haythem Ayouni 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Karim Ashraf ran the middle of the pitch — 6.55
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.55, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 7.38 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al-Jeel had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al-Jeel
A 0‑3 beating by Al-Orobah was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Jeel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win for Al-Jeel
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Jeel are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Karim Ashraf 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-Jeel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Naser 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
192% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Jeel
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.
The dugout2 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Al-Jeel 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 dugout2 Nov 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Salem Al-Sulami to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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 Al-Jeel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Al-Jeel
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Al-Jeel are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Karim Ashraf 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naser Salem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Al-Batin, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Turki Ba Al-Jawsh, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
12 new faces, and Al-Jeel 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
A promise honoured at Al-Jeel
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Looking ahead
A reunion for Saud Al-Ruwaili
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al-Jeel
A 1‑6 beating by Al-Riyadh was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 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-Jeel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Jeel
Haruna Abubakar 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Karim Ashraf among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Karim Ashraf on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Jeel and Al-Riyadh.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Yaseen Al-Zubaidi 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 swallow 258% of the Al-Jeel income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The dugout5 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Al-Jeel 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Jeel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Jeel
Karim Ashraf 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Al-Jeel
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naser Salem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 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.
The terraces21 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al-Jeel
12 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Karim Ashraf knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karim Ashraf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match9 Sep 2026
Al-Jeel bow out of the cup
Al-Ahli go through and Al-Jeel go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Jeel will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Al-Hazem, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Al-Jeel
Karim Ashraf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Sep 2026
Al-Jeel cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Naser 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ibrahim Al-Harbi 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omar Al-Dawsari 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 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-Jeel can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Al-Ettifaq is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Naser Salem 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Diriyah have kept their man, and Al-Jeel go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
Al-Mojzel left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Thamer Al-Arjan
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al-Jeel will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al-Jeel
9 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Salem Al-Sulami after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Al-Qadisiyah, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Aug 2026
Al-Nassr did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $4.9M for Aiman Yahya, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Karim Ashraf had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Al-Ra'ed offered $2.1M; Al-Nassr said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Market17 Aug 2026
Al-Nahda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Ra'ed did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Al-Ra'ed had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al Shabab, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Al-Ra'ed have gone to Al-Fayha with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Al-Ra'ed
Zinho Gano and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.