Marked for Igor Serrote
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Igor Serrote 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salem Mabkhout was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ali Al Shamsi knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Al Ahli would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Khalfan Al Menhali’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes Khalid Butti a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ahli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“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.
Loan watch2 Nov 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 Al Ahli, and 1 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hamza Sakhi. 1‑0 against Al Nasr, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Hamza Sakhi at his very best
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ahli.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Fábio Pacheco 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.
The dugout2 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Igor Serrote makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Hassan on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Igor Serrote 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
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout26 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salem Mabkhout 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Al Ahli 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Hassan on a 4‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Igor Serrote and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bandar Hassan and Al Ahli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes Khalid Butti a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Ahli. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nasser Yaqoob 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
Steady
Loan watch12 Oct 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 Al Jazira, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stojan Leković has his answer from Al Jazira; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Willyan Rocha signs something — a contract at Al Jazira or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Jazira, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Baniyas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The penny has dropped for Malcom
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 Jazira the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Abdelilah Hafidi, 34, rolls back the years — 7.95
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdullah Al Hashmi is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Ahli can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Igor Serrote 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch5 Oct 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 Al Ahli, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mahmoud Al Hammadi. 2‑0 against Dibba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Salem Mabkhout 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Walid Hassan on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Al Ahli
1‑4 against Al Wahda, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Igor Serrote 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Mahmoud Al Hammadi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 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 1‑4 Walid Hassan left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Al Ahli are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Salem Mabkhout 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 dugout28 Sep 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Al Ahli offered $3.9M; Al Nasr 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 19 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 targets14 Sep 2026
The window shuts on the Modou Niang deal
Al Ahli ran out of time with Al Ain. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
The game went through Omar Khalfan — 6.90
Marked 6.90 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match12 Sep 2026
Al Shabab left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
The dugout14 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Walid Hassan to a room that had heard them before.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mahmoud Obaid 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamdan Suqrat and Al Ahli agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Nabil Fekir yet — 7.99
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market14 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Al Jazira did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Al Jazira, 3‑1 the final word against Al Nasr in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match12 Sep 2026
Al Nasr blown away early
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al Nasr tried to reorganise, Al Jazira did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Malcom was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
The away end at Al Nasr goes home happy
3-1, and a corner of somebody else’s ground that outsang the rest of it. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them mentions it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Vinicius Mello 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Al Ahli to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Jazira and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout14 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.” Rashid Omar, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Wehda waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahli is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Al Ahli have gone to Al Nasr 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.
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 Al Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Everything agreed with Al Ain, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Al Ahli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market7 Sep 2026
Al Fujairah come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Ahli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.3M — a club that wants Moussa N'Diaye enough to be asked twice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
At 18 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 targets7 Sep 2026
Al Ahli asked and Qingdao Hainiu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Ahli say no — this time
The offer from Foolad for Nasser Yaqoob 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Mahmoud Al Hammadi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Youssef Nader again, and this time the name on the line is Al Fujairah. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khalfan Al Menhali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al Jazira: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al-Hilal have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Khalfan Al Menhali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Majed Hussain has his answer from Al Ahli; what he does with it is the next window’s story.