Marked for Lionel Verde
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Baniyas have had the benefit of it.
Squad4 Jan 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑2 to Al Jazira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Carlos Caicedo 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The Khamis Saleh conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al Nasr will make the call about Khamis Saleh this week. Baniyas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Claudio Corvalán out for 23 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Unión de Santa Fe will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Unión de Santa Fe may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market28 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Unión de Santa Fe, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market28 Dec 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Unión de Santa Fe is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Dec 2026
Newell's Old Boys pay $950.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Al Shaab, and it could have been more.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 10.00
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Munas Dabbur takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Nassim Chadli 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Baniyas and Al Shaab in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yahia Nader 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 terraces21 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lionel Verde has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.40 — 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match27 Nov 2026
1‑0 against Plaza Colonia, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match27 Nov 2026
Nicolás Palavecino wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Nicolás Palavecino found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Plaza Colonia went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Bruno Pittón 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.
Match27 Nov 2026
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings30 Nov 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.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lautaro Vargas 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Unión de Santa Fe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enzo Roldán 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Unión de Santa Fe.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match23 Nov 2026
Baniyas are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 7.84
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad23 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 42. 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
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
Cruel end for Dibba as Baniyas pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Baniyas scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lionel Verde. 1‑0 against Dibba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juan Carlos Caicedo 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
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bruno Pittón 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 Unión de Santa Fe training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Paz 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
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 86 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match7 Oct 2026
The cup run ends for Baniyas
0‑2 against Al Ahli, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Lionel Verde, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Solomon Sosu is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
At 21 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Lionel Verde’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Baniyas.
Squad12 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Matías Mansilla 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 Oct 2026
Nicolás Paz 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 ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 7.28 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Unión de Santa Fe had the best player on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Sep 2026
Al Fujairah will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Baniyas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 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 Baniyas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Baniyas
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lionel Verde 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohamed Omar 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hamdan Rashid 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.