The Al Ain Chronicle
Squad31 Aug 2026
Real improvement from Nikola Vukić at Al Ain
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikola Vukić is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Al Ain
Soufiane Rahimi 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Kouamé Autonne attracts admirers
The name of Kouamé Autonne has come up in conversations Al Ain were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market31 Aug 2026
The Mohammed Abbas conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: ES Ben Aknoun will make the call about Mohammed Abbas this week. Al Ain have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A season on the outside for Lucas Ríos
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Ain has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Eid Al-Hammadi 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 Eid Al-Hammadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- Market The Marcel Ratnik story refuses to die
- Market Al Ain send Houssine Rahimi out for first-team football