Marked for Ismail Al Hammadi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
Nowhere to hide for Al Ahli
0‑5 against Sharjah, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Walid 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Yassine Rami 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Al Ahli dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 4 saves does not settle it either way.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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 Walid Al Menhali is on it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Ahli know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
33 goals and a season average of 7.78. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match13 Feb 2027
Chastening afternoon for Al Ahli
A 1‑4 beating by Baniyas was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market15 Feb 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 The request is on a desk at Al Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nasser Obaid had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market15 Feb 2027
Bodo/Glimt come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Ahli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Diriyah keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad15 Feb 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Al Ahli asked and Al Shabab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Bloushi 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Inquest at Al Ahli
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Evans Ampofo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
31 goals and a season average of 7.77. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Khalfan Al Kamali had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Match30 Jan 2027
3‑0, and Khalfan Al Kamali took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al Ahli tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market1 Feb 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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Al Ahli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Yassine Rami 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
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market18 Jan 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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Market18 Jan 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Majed Yaqoob had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Walid Al Menhali has come up in conversations Al Ahli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market18 Jan 2027
Al Ahli say no — this time
The offer from Al Shabab for Fahad Ismail 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Diriyah is saying, and nobody at Al Ahli is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Al Ahli asked and Al Wahda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yassine Rami 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 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 Ahli can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.58 with 22 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market4 Jan 2027
Al Wahda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Ahli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al Ahli will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nasser Obaid again, and this time the name on the line is Persepolis. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Al Ahli go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Jan 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Khalfan Al Kamali’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Ahli.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Khalfan Al Kamali
21 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The match ball belongs to Khalfan Al Kamali, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match19 Dec 2026
4‑5 to Al Wahda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Khalfan Al Kamali was on a different afternoon to everybody else
10.00. 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Yassine Rami 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 Al Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Khalid Juma 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ismail Al Bloushi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nasser Obaid was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Salem Al Suwaidi was unplayable
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Dec 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Khalfan Al Kamali
18 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Khalifa Sembaij commits to Al Ahli for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Nasser Al Hammadi, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mohamed Ismail damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al Ahli
A 0‑3 beating by Sharjah was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Nov 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Yassine Rami 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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Al Ahli dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A Al Ahli teenager takes the young player award
Khalid Mabkhout is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yassine Rami 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 Mahmoud Alaa, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
International break empties Al Ahli
5 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nasser Al Hammadi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad16 Nov 2026
At 18 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Baniyas came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
20 days out for Omar El Mansouri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Hamad Fahad gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hamad Fahad has just signed for Al Ahli, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Bloushi 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Khalifa Mubarak
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Walid Al Menhali is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
44 days out for Omar El Mansouri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Al Ahli
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al Ahli are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Saeed Al Hammadi has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Yassine Rami and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Al Bloushi 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Moussa Dembélé at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ahli.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahmoud Alaa, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
10 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.
Match7 Oct 2026
Al Ahli out of the cup
Baniyas ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Moussa Dembélé takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Moussa Dembélé provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Nasser Obaid scored one and made one — 7.50
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.50, and 2 involvements.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Al Ahli are still strangers to each other
9 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
It needed Moussa Dembélé to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Al Shaab, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
60 days out for Omar El Mansouri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Ahli will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market5 Oct 2026
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market5 Oct 2026
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Al Ahli can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Walid 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 25 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Yassine Rami 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Al Ain leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Moussa Dembélé runs at them all day
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The dugout
Bakr El Helali knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahli
Walid Al Menhali and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Khalfan Al Kamali at his very best
Marked 9.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ahli.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Walid Al Menhali, and the manager let it.
Match19 Sep 2026
Late, late show earns Al Ahli a point
Minute 94, against Al Wahda, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Match19 Sep 2026
It needed Khalfan Al Kamali to find the net to bring anything home at all: 4‑4 against Al Wahda, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Nasser Al Hammadi after the 4‑4 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Ahli, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
Zenit come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Ahli did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al Wasl had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 Sep 2026
The Al Ain deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Majed Nader reports back to Al Ahli with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Al Ahli until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Walid 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Graduation day at Al Ahli
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Nasser Obaid’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Ahli.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Akhmat Grozny had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$4.1M on the table at Al-Ettifaq. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Walid Al Menhali again, and this time the name on the line is Emirates Club. Al Ahli are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The deal with Shakhtar is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Al Ahli had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baniyas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ismail Al Hammadi commits to Al Ahli for another 4 years.
Squad10 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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Ahli
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khalid Juma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“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 Ahli hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Nasser Obaid has come up in conversations Al Ahli were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Walid 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Khalid Juma 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al Ahli asked and Al Nasr 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
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Omar and Al Ahli agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Shakhtar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Ahli, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
Fahad Al Hashmi is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al Ahli has been clear about where Fahad Al Hashmi stands, which is more than many ever get.