Marked for Redha Al-Abdullah
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Oct 2029
Sinali Béré 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 Oct 2029
Time is catching up with Sinali Béré
Everybody at Al-Shoulla saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Nidhal Ben 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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
Sinali Béré 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 Sinali Béré is on it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“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.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“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-Shoulla, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead15 Oct 2029
Al-Fayha next, and one man in the Al-Shoulla dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad15 Oct 2029
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-Shoulla would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bernard Ovoke commits to Al-Shoulla for another 2 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Sinali Béré 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-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Oct 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Redha Al-Abdullah. 3‑1 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
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.
Player ratings8 Oct 2029
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Shoulla is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
Wages swallow 123% of the Al-Shoulla 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.
Match6 Oct 2029
Al-Shoulla hit back inside 1 minutes
Al-Saudi Al-Watani held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Shoulla answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Squad8 Oct 2029
8 new faces, and Al-Shoulla 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Sep 2029
Chastening afternoon for Al-Shoulla
A 1‑4 beating by Al-Riyadh was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match12 Sep 2029
The small margins put Al-Shoulla out
Out, 0‑3 to Al-Wehda, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces17 Sep 2029
A cup embarrassment at Al-Wehda follows Al-Shoulla home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Sinali Béré 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Shoulla is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Transfer targets17 Sep 2029
Al-Shoulla asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
11 combined actions and 6.66. 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
A brace, and Redha Al-Abdullah takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Redha Al-Abdullah provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Al-Shoulla have gone to Al-Fateh 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Sinali Béré 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 targets20 Aug 2029
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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Nidhal Ben 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.
Match18 Aug 2029
Al-Orobah made Al-Shoulla work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad20 Aug 2029
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Player ratings20 Aug 2029
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.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ali Al-Mansour could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2029
Ahmed Al-Dosari damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market25 Jun 2029
“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-Shoulla, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Al-Ittihad wanted more than $1.1M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Al-Shoulla have gone to Al-Ra'ed 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Redha Al-Abdullah 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 targets25 Jun 2029
Al-Riyadh 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 dugout25 Jun 2029
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 Nidhal Ben Salem is on it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
The formation has left Awaji Olwani behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Shoulla will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jun 2029
Ahmed Al-Dosari damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
$1.1M on the table at Al-Ittihad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market18 Jun 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Shoulla is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Shabab keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
Al-Shoulla offered $290.0K; Al-Ra'ed 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
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-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Jun 2029
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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ammar Al-Hudaybi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 May 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Boardroom14 May 2029
The numbers do not look good at Al-Ettifaq
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Madu 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 dugout14 May 2029
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.
The dugout14 May 2029
Nobody at Al-Ettifaq 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.
Squad14 May 2029
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
The dugout14 May 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout14 May 2029
Mahmoud Wahid 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 Mahmoud Wahid trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The Al-Ettifaq board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The dugout7 May 2029
“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.
Squad7 May 2029
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-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
A row about effort at Al-Ettifaq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Madu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 May 2029
“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.
Loan watch7 May 2029
8 shut-outs in 29 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Abdulbasit Hawsawi has been having a lot of them.
The dugout7 May 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Al-Ettifaq now.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohamed Benkhemassa commits to Al-Ettifaq for another 1 years.
Squad16 Apr 2029
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Ettifaq can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2029
A fracture rules Waleed Al-Juhani out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ettifaq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Mar 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Al-Ettifaq now.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Saif Rashad
“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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Faris Al-Ghamdi is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majed Al-Ghamdi 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 dugout19 Mar 2029
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 Georginio Wijnaldum is on it.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
A promise honoured at Al-Ettifaq
Something was said to Saad Al-Mutairi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Mar 2029
“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-Ettifaq can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
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-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Al-Ettifaq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Madu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Al-Ettifaq 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.
Loan watch12 Mar 2029
8 shut-outs in 27 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Abdulbasit Hawsawi has been having a lot of them.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Saif Rashad 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 Saif Rashad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Redha Al-Abdullah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Ettifaq the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ra'ed have kept their man, and Al-Ettifaq go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match17 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Abdullah Madu 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 dugout19 Feb 2029
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 Stephan Krüger to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Ettifaq people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market5 Feb 2029
Hajer come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Ettifaq did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Al-Ettifaq 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdullah Khateeb and Al-Ettifaq agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Orobah have kept their man, and Al-Ettifaq go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market5 Feb 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Al-Sultan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market5 Feb 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rashid Al-Otaibi 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.
In brief
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Squad
The decline has begun for Mahmoud Wahid
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Looking ahead
Everything rides on Damac
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Boardroom
Wages eat 101% of everything Al-Ettifaq earn
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
A fracture rules Musleh Al-Shaikh out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ettifaq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Al-Ettifaq's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Ettifaq has to find a result from somewhere.
Market8 Jan 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Ettifaq people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market8 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Georginio Wijnaldum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Meshal Sibyani and Al-Ettifaq agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Al-Ettifaq go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch8 Jan 2029
“I watch every Al-Ettifaq game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Batin runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Madu 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
94% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Ettifaq
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The dugout
João Costa has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Jan 2029
“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-Shoulla, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Shoulla have done the hard part with Al-Ettifaq, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Khaleej have kept their man, and Al-Shoulla go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Jan 2029
The phone has started ringing about Majed Al-Mutairi again, and this time the name on the line is Damac. Al-Shoulla are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Saleh Al-Nashmi 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
“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.
Loan watch8 Jan 2029
“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-Shoulla, and 8 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulrahman Sufyani 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Abdulrahman Sufyani
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abdulrahman Sufyani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Shoulla have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
78 days out for Musleh Al-Shaikh after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ettifaq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match8 Nov 2028
Al-Nassr are out and Al-Ettifaq go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match8 Nov 2028
Krzysztof Kownacki wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Krzysztof Kownacki found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al-Nassr went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Georginio Wijnaldum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Loan watch13 Nov 2028
“I did not go to Al-Batin to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Ettifaq and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
The terraces13 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Redha Al-Abdullah 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.
Match11 Nov 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Oct 2028
Waleed Ayyash 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Everybody at Al-Ettifaq saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad16 Oct 2028
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-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Al-Ettifaq
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdullah Madu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch16 Oct 2028
“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-Ettifaq, and 0 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Marek Rodák has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al-Ettifaq 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmad Al-Blooshi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Oct 2028
The leaders are next for Al-Ettifaq
Al-Ittihad top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Market16 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Georginio Wijnaldum signs something — a contract at Al-Ettifaq or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Waleed Ayyash out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ettifaq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
Emergency meeting at Al-Ettifaq
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Al-Riyadh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market7 Aug 2028
Viking paid $3.9M and Al-Ettifaq took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market7 Aug 2028
The paperwork is done: Nawaf Al-Bishri joins from Al-Hazem in a deal worth $700.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Market7 Aug 2028
The fee is $320.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Al-Hazem drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Redha Al-Abdullah commits to Al-Ettifaq for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Khalid Al-Ghannam
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ettifaq lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom1 May 2028
Pressure builds in the Al-Ettifaq boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 May 2028
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-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch1 May 2028
Abdulbasit Hawsawi’s loan is measured in nothing happening
13 clean sheets from 27 appearances at Al-Diriyah. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“I watch every Al-Ettifaq game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ittihad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad1 May 2028
Mohammed Al-Kadi 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 dugout1 May 2028
Marek Rodák without the man who signed him
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Marek Rodák was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad1 May 2028
“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.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Turki Al-Ghamdi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Georginio Wijnaldum 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Ettifaq know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“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-Ettifaq, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Nobody at Al-Ettifaq 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Georginio Wijnaldum is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Feb 2028
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Al-Ettifaq boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 2 in, 7 out at Al-Ettifaq
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Hamad Al-Khorayef 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Ettifaq
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match5 Feb 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market7 Feb 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Ettifaq will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Ettifaq lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match4 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Ettifaq
5 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.
Market6 Dec 2027
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Ettifaq hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad6 Dec 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 Al-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match4 Dec 2027
1‑3 to Al-Qadisiyah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“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.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I did not go to Al-Ittihad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Ettifaq and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Turki Al-Ahmadi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.