Marked for Faisal Rashid
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Faisal Rashid 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 Sep 2026
Words at Emirates Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Abdulrahman 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jardel makes it 100
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jardel wants to go home
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Emirates Club can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ahmed Nader after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match26 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Al Nasr came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Wasl in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market28 Sep 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Emirates Club know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves: Adib Zarei was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Omar Abdulrahman 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 Sep 2026
A 3‑1 win over Al Ahli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Isaac Tshibangu 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Isaac Tshibangu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.03 — 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 8.02 — 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Ahmed Nader could afford to be generous.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Emirates Club have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
Faisal Rashid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Abdulrahman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑1 to Al Ain, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Emirates Club are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout14 Sep 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.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Ahli in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Khalid Hussain, 19 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Adli Mohamed
Nobody at Emirates Club is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Emirates Club close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The deal with Al Shaab 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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Emirates Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Emirates Club training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Omar Abdulrahman 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rah Ahan have kept their man, and Emirates Club go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Leandrinho is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Leandrinho 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Emirates Club say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Faisal Rashid has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Al Shabab sell a favourite for $2.8M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Faisal Rashid was one of the reasons people came, and $2.8M does not replace that by itself.
Market31 Aug 2026
Faisal Rashid has left for Emirates Club in a $2.8M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market31 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$510.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Wahda were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Salem Yaqoob and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Emirates Club spend $2.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.8M has been paid because Faisal Rashid is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Mohamed Ali 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Rah Ahan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad31 Aug 2026
João Alves still has not settled
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Emirates Club would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
In brief
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Squad
Jardel has company in his position
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Diogo Capitão
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
Al Wahda come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shabab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Al Shabab sell a favourite for $4.1M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Majed Mabkhout was one of the reasons people came, and $4.1M does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Deportes Tolima wanted more than $4.2M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market24 Aug 2026
Majed Mabkhout has left for Al Nasr in a $4.1M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Market24 Aug 2026
Al Shabab pay Neftchi $780.0K for a proper upgrade
Neftchi did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $780.0K for Botirali Ergashev, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al Shabab have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Salem Yaqoob 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Éder Santos for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Al Shabab will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ain have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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
The offer went to Al Shabab this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market24 Aug 2026
The chase for João Alves ended with $130.0K changing hands and Al Wasl out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Al Fujairah wanted more than $160.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Emirates Club go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Omar Abdulrahman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Padideh for Faisal Rashid 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 targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Al Jazira this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market3 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.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Jazira have kept their man, and Al Shabab go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Al Shabab
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rashid Juma was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Independiente Rivadavia have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al-Hilal have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Majed Mabkhout 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.