Nader Alaa

Central Midfielder - Ismaily
25 Oct 2026
Sunday
Process

Marked for Nader Alaa

12 Edition

The Ismaily Courier

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Mohamed El Amine Ramdaoui: 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.” Ismaily have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Home is on Kevin Akpoguma's mind

“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; Ismaily are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

Squad

Kevin Akpoguma 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 Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Mohamed Hassan

Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Morad Khodari

Marked 8.82 — 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 ratings

Khaled Al-Nabris runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Ismaily find a way past Masr El Makasa

Masr El Makasa made Ismaily work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Nothing got past Konta

Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.

Squad

Nader Alaa 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.

In brief

Back issues
6 Edition

The Ismaily Courier

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Hassan Mansour asks to leave Ismaily

“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.

Match

4 matches without a win for Ismaily

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ismaily are no longer polite ones.

Squad

Kevin Akpoguma 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 Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Mohamed Abdelsamia runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Boardroom

Wages eat 190% of everything Ismaily 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Khaled Al-Nabris

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Honours even between Ismaily and ENPPI

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

Squad

Nader Alaa 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.

Squad

Ali El Malawany loses the armband

The captaincy has been taken off Ali El Malawany. Ismaily will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.

In brief

3 Edition

The Ismaily Courier

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Khaled Al-Nabris

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Éric Traoré 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 Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Konta shuts the door

Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Mohamed Hassan

A mark of 7.78, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Market

Ismaily sign El Sayed Trezeguet, one for the future

El Sayed Trezeguet is 16, and Ismaily have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Market

Ismaily sign Mohamed Warda, one for the future

Mohamed Warda is 16, and Ismaily have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Market

Ismaily sign Ali Tarek, one for the future

Ali Tarek is 16, and Ismaily have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.

Market

A long bet from Ismaily on Omar Hegazi

He is 16, and nobody at Ismaily signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

Squad

No hiding place for Abdelrahman Katkot

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdelrahman Katkot, and the manager let it.

In brief