Marked for Mohamed Atef
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Jun 2027
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ahly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market28 Jun 2027
“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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Paradou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jun 2027
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Market28 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al Ahly have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Belal Ateya is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Al Ahly
Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 27 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jun 2027
Samuel Oppong damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al Ahly people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Ahly may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market21 Jun 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 Al Ahly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jun 2027
Al Ahly say no — this time
The offer from ES Mostaganem for Ziad Ayoub 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Al Ahly
Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market21 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Omar Kamel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Omar Kamel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Ahly the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Al Ahly
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zizo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match17 Oct 2026
Al Ahly make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al Ahly have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Zidan Nageh is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Taher Mohamed is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.33 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.29 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.