Marked for Eyad Medhat
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CR Belouizdad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 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 CR Belouizdad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at CR Belouizdad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khanyisa Mayo 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 dugout22 May 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 CR Belouizdad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
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 dugout22 May 2028
Islam Abbaci has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at CR Belouizdad 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.
Market22 May 2028
The shop window has Farid Chaâl in it
CR Belouizdad have let the market know Farid Chaâl can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad22 May 2028
Questions about Zakaria Bouhalfaya on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The dugout22 May 2028
The manager plants his flag on Mehdi Boudjemaa
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Mehdi Boudjemaa’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
In brief
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Squad
Eyad Medhat is starting to look at home
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Loan watch
Decision time nears on Ayyoub
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Dec 2027
The run at home goes on for CR Belouizdad
17 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market20 Dec 2027
“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 CR Belouizdad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Chouaib Keddad pops up at the right end — 7.62
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Naoufel Khacef 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 dugout20 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Boudjemaa, and the manager let it.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Youcef Laouafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match18 Dec 2027
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match18 Dec 2027
A 2‑2 draw with JS Kabylie leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
In brief
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Squad
The formation has left Eyad Medhat behind
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The dugout
Moustapha Zeghba asks for a word with the manager
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Dec 2027
The run at home goes on for CR Belouizdad
16 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match13 Dec 2027
27 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CR Belouizdad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Naoufel Khacef 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 ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Khanyisa Mayo 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
MC Oran made CR Belouizdad work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Looking ahead13 Dec 2027
Top-of-the-table clash for CR Belouizdad
JS Kabylie next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Nobody on the pitch touched Khanyisa Mayo
7.87, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. CR Belouizdad had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ismaily had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Smouha waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Marwan Ateya again, and this time the name on the line is SV Elversberg. Al Ahly are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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 Ahly can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Al Ahly
Hussein El Shahat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Afimico Pululu 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 watch9 Aug 2027
“I watch every Al Ahly game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Smouha runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Afimico Pululu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Ahly 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 dugout9 Aug 2027
Ahmed Eid is still paying for one afternoon at Al Ahly
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Gil Vicente had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Persepolis this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al Ahly have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market14 Jun 2027
Al Ahli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Ahly did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
Eyad Medhat hands in a written request
“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 Ahly can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ittihad have kept their man, and Al Ahly go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Al Ahly
Hussein El Shahat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdalla Hatem is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al Ahly training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.