Marked for Daniel Sánchez
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2027
Al Shaab sink to position 12
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Abdullah Al Shamsi 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Suood Ali commits to Al Shaab for another 4 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamal Kamyabinia 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 dugout12 Jul 2027
Faisal Hassan is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jun 2027
Anger at Al Shaab spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al Shaab
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al Shaab is running low.
Market28 Jun 2027
Al Ahli come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shaab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market28 Jun 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 Shaab can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$3.2M on the table at Al Jazira. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Everything was agreed with Al Jazira and then the doctor spoke. Al Shaab have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $62.6K — a club that wants Salem Al Hashmi enough to be asked twice.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Faisal Hassan 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Suood Ali is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2027
Nasser Al Kamali damages knee ligaments — 67 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 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.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Emirates Club have kept their man, and Al Shaab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Al Shaab go back to the board over Iago
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $34.1K — a club that wants Iago enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Al Ahli wanted more than $610.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Faisal Hassan 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The name of Nasser Al Kamali has come up in conversations Al Shaab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces31 May 2027
Anger at Al Shaab spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nasser Al Kamali
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 May 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.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al Shaab
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout31 May 2027
This is not rotation. Sultan Al Hashmi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Al Shaab is pretending otherwise.
Squad31 May 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Suood Ali is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 May 2027
Faisal Hassan 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Mehdi Bourabia 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.
Market31 May 2027
Daniel Sánchez returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 May 2027
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Shaab lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match17 May 2027
Al Shaab are in real trouble now
Position 12, 25 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad17 May 2027
A falling-out at Al Shaab
Faisal Hassan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Reda Jaadi 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 watch17 May 2027
“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shaab and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Fousséni Silué's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Nasser Al Shamsi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 2027
Suood Ali 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 Suood Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Nasser Al Kamali
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Apr 2027
Al Shaab sink to position 12
25 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Shaab may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Faisal Hassan and Al Shaab agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Nasser Al Shamsi 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.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Al Wahda to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shaab and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamal Kamyabinia, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zayed Khamis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Daniel Sánchez: 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.” Al Wahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gastón Suárez, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Abdulla Hamad is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Arnau Pradas gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arnau Pradas is on it.
Market29 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Moussa Diarra’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Match29 Mar 2027
Continental football is in reach for Al Wahda
43 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al Wahda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
Guga has made Al Shaab’s shirt his own
8 starts now, an average of 6.61, and the team sheet at Al Shaab has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dušan Tadić in the team of the week — 7.32
7.32 across the ninety minutes, and a place in the division’s best eleven for it. Nobody who saw the match will argue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al Wahda know it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Majed Al Menhali to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Dušan Tadić has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Wahda 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Lautaro Montenegro 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Shamsi, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Omar Khribin’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sabah had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market18 Jan 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 Wahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Jan 2027
Al Wahda say no — this time
The offer from Al Ain for Guga 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Al Wahda
Dušan Tadić 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
Business is business: Zayed Ahmed goes
Al Shabab paid $300.0K and Al Wahda took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match16 Jan 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Omar Khribin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Wahda.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Facundo Kruspzky was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Al Shaab: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al Shaab
Position 12 and 16 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nasser Al Naqbi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match26 Dec 2026
Al Dhafra left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 39, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Everything rides on Dibba
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Al Shaab know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ismail Nader to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“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.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
Al Shaab sell a favourite for $10.5M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Nasser Al Junaibi was one of the reasons people came, and $10.5M does not replace that by itself.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Faisal Hassan 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Al Wahda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match21 Dec 2026
Halfway: Al Shaab sit in position 11
16 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Willian Rangel's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Al Shaab, 2‑1 the final word against Emirates Club in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Faisal Hassan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Maximiliano Acosta and Al Shaab agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Hamdan Hassan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ismail Nader on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Khalfan Al Suwaidi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Faisal Hassan 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamdan Hassan commits to Al Shaab for another 4 years.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Khalid Al Naqbi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Al Shabab next, and one man in the Al Shaab dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Faisal Hassan’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes Hamdan Hassan a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Shaab. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Khalfan Ismail 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
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Al Shaab
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Al Shaab are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Faisal Hassan 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Nader, and the manager let it.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Al Ahli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ismail Nader after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Al Shaab are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Faisal Hassan 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Hassan Nader beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al Shaab had the best player on the pitch.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Nasser Al Junaibi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Baniyas, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Daniel Sánchez is the weekend's best young player
At 18 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Both of them Reda Jaadi's — 8.20
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.20, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ahmed Rashid is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Faisal Hassan 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Sánchez has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Reda Jaadi. 2‑0 against Dibba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.24, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
A test against the best for Al Shaab
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Baniyas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 19 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The clock did what Dibba would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Match12 Sep 2026
Level with 86 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al Shaab had all but put away. Al Dhafra will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bandar Al Menhali 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Daniel Sánchez 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Sultan Al Hashmi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al Dhafra, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Reda Jaadi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Nasser Al Kamali
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Squad
The formation has left Daniel Pedrozo behind
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sharjah had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Aug 2026
Dibba come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shaab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Al Shaab offered $6.3M; Gil Vicente said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad24 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Hamad Al Menhali has come up in conversations Al Shaab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Shaab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Sánchez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Al Shaab
Khalid Ismail 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
“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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al Shaab asked and Al-Ettifaq said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Sánchez 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.