Marked for Saad Al-Sharfa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. 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
Mourad Batna breaks a bone — 20 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Al-Fateh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Al-Fateh who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
113% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Fateh
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Mourad Batna out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Fateh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Rodrigo Bacidalupe, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Sofiane Bendebka 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 terraces12 Oct 2026
At 19 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
A 1‑0 win over Najran, 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
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Mourad Batna out for 51 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Fateh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Zaydou Youssouf 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 148% of everything Al-Fateh 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Al-Ahli left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad5 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Fernando Pacheco knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market5 Oct 2026
The name of Saad Al-Sharfa keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Fateh say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Mourad Batna out for 60 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Fateh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sofiane Bendebka 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
Juan Tineo 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.
Squad28 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Al-Nassr will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mourad Batna breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Al-Fateh say no — this time
The offer from Al-Shoulla for Sattam Al-Tumbukti 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.
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 Al-Fateh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for Al-Fateh, 1‑0 the final word against Hajer in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
7.97, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al-Fateh had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mourad Batna breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 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 Al-Fateh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Wesley Delgado 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Wesley Delgado’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Fateh.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.85, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al-Fateh had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Al-Fateh have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Mourad Batna out for 116 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Fateh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Aug 2026
Al-Fateh spend $3.2M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.2M has been paid because Martín Álvarez is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A move Martín Álvarez would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Martín Álvarez is living that version at Al-Fateh, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saad Al-Sharfa and Al-Fateh agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 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 Al-Fateh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Matías Vargas and Al-Fateh agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Zaydou Youssouf 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Ziyad Al-Jari is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Fateh has been clear about where Ziyad Al-Jari stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.