Marked for Mohamed Suqrat
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Majed Al Junaibi out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Sep 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 The request is on a desk at Al Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
A brace, and Salem Al Shamsi takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Salem Al Shamsi provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match4 Sep 2027
The run at home goes on for Al Shabab
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad6 Sep 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Ahmed Nader is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad6 Sep 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
6 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Khalfan Al Junaibi 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Gui Negão 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.
Squad2 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Jun 2027
A fracture rules Majed Al Junaibi out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Jun 2027
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Al Wahda for Mohamed Saeed 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Al Wasl pay $1.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad14 Jun 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gui Negão 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mohamed Suqrat has improved at 27, 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Majed Al Junaibi out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shabab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salem Al Shamsi 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.
Squad10 May 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohamed Suqrat commits to Al Shabab for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Salem Al Shamsi
86 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shabab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market11 Jan 2027
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Al Ahly for Mohamed Saeed 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.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Omar Obaid takes the afternoon — 7.61
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Obaid provided it, and the 7.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nobody wants to play Al Shabab right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Khalfan Al Junaibi 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Shabab and Baniyas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Omar Obaid. 4‑2 against Baniyas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Shabab may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Salem 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.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
At 22 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for Al Shabab, 1‑0 the final word against Al Wahda in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Salem Al Shamsi at his very best
Marked 8.21. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Shabab.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“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 Shabab know it.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Omar Obaid runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Nothing got past Kaiki
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Al Jazira for Mohamed Saeed 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.
Squad17 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Yaqoob 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahmoud Yaqoob, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Saeed Al Kamali and Al Shabab agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market17 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al Shabab will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Salem 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Mohamed Suqrat has come up in conversations Al Shabab were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mahmoud Yaqoob 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Youssef Obaid is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al Shabab has been clear about where Youssef Obaid stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Salem Al Shamsi 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.