Marked for Maher Tawashi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Apr 2029
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Damac lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Kewin 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 Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch16 Apr 2029
30 appearances at Al-Mojzel and the goals keep coming. Damac are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Kewin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Damac 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 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdullah Al-Joui trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Amadou Bamba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market16 Apr 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Nawaf Hazazi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Market16 Apr 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Damac money.
Squad16 Apr 2029
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Maher Tawashi out for 17 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Damac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match16 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Damac's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Damac has to find a result from somewhere.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Damac, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Damac may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Kewin 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Damac
Nawaf Hazazi 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Joui, and the manager let it.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Damac cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Boardroom18 Dec 2028
Damac are $15.2M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Dec 2028
24 days out for Maher Tawashi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Damac will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match9 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Damac's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Damac has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Dec 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.
Market11 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Damac they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“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; Damac are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Damac
Nawaf Hazazi 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.
Match9 Dec 2028
Al-Nahda left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Match11 Dec 2028
The half-term report on Damac
Position 15, 11 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Nawaf Hazazi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Dec 2028
A fracture rules Maher Tawashi out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Damac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Damac can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match4 Dec 2028
Every point is an argument now for Damac
Position 15 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Damac
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match2 Dec 2028
No end in sight to Damac's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Damac has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Rendra Teddy: 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.” Damac have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at Damac
Yahya Naji 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abdulrahman Al-Obaid commits to Damac for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Kewin 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
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
Maher Tawashi breaks a bone — 39 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match25 Nov 2028
Damac taken apart
0‑3 to Al-Fayha, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Kewin keeps Damac in it on his own
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Damac's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Damac has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Damac
Yahya Naji 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Kewin 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 ratings27 Nov 2028
Yahya Naji runs at them all day
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 dugout27 Nov 2028
Kewin 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.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Doors closed at Damac
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
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
A fracture rules Maher Tawashi out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Damac will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Tempers go at Damac
Kewin 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al-Joui, and the manager let it.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
No signings allowed at Damac
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom20 Nov 2028
The Damac debt reaches $15.6M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Squad20 Nov 2028
6 new faces, and Damac 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Salman Al-Jadany has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Damac.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdullah Al-Joui’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Damac needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Nov 2028
Maher Tawashi breaks a bone — 53 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Nov 2028
“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 Damac, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match11 Nov 2028
The wait goes on for Damac
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.
Market13 Nov 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nawaf Al-Osaimi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Damac the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Damac
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kewin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Damac
Ahmed Omar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Nov 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Loan watch13 Nov 2028
“I watch every Damac game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ta'ee runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Turki Al-Shammari
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Damac lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Sep 2028
The deal that would have taken Ammar Al-Ammar to Al-Mojzel has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Damac with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Njoom have kept their man, and Damac go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Nawaf Hazazi 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 Damac this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Damac know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
13 new faces, and Damac 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.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Nawaf Al-Osaimi
“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
Boardroom15 May 2028
Al-Nassr book their European place
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Market15 May 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.
Market15 May 2028
Samú wants to know where this is going
“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-Nassr hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The dugout15 May 2028
This is not rotation. Abdulelah Al-Amri has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Al-Nassr is pretending otherwise.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Al-Nassr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Durán 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.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Wages swallow 154% of the Al-Nassr 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.
Squad15 May 2028
“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; Al-Nassr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 May 2028
“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 watch15 May 2028
“I did not go to Najran to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Nassr and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 May 2028
61 days out for Othman Al-Othman after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Najran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad15 May 2028
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Najran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout15 May 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Najran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 May 2028
Words exchanged at Najran
Diego Venancio 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.
Squad15 May 2028
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saud Haroun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 May 2028
Omar Al-Ruwaili 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
Upbeat
Squad8 May 2028
68 days out for Othman Al-Othman after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Najran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad8 May 2028
Maher Tawashi 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.
Squad8 May 2028
He is 20, he is averaging 7.39, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Najran may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Diego Venancio and Najran agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market8 May 2028
“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
Upbeat
Squad1 May 2028
A fracture rules Othman Al-Othman out for 76 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Najran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 May 2028
Maher Tawashi damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words exchanged at Najran
Adel Bettaieb 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.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at Najran
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ziad Ayoub was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tshidiso Monamodi, and the manager let it.
Market1 May 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Najran, another week without a signature from Adel Bettaieb.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Ziad Ayoub, 19, steals the show — 9.55
Marked 9.55 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The match ball belongs to Ziad Ayoub, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The season belongs to Ziad Ayoub
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 Najran have had the benefit of it.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
“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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Whatever happens, Najran do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at Najran
Adel Bettaieb 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.
Match1 Jan 2028
Hajer made Najran work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Najran asked and Al-Nassr 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Omar Bugiel
“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.