Marked for Ibrahim Al Shamsi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 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 The request is on a desk at Al Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Ibrahim Al Shamsi 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.
Squad12 Apr 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces5 Apr 2027
Anger at Al Shabab 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Amer Al Shamsi: 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 Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Ibrahim 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Rashid 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.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Shabab, and 5 appearances in 33 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Mohammed Fawzi. Al Shabab will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2027
Al Shabab 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Arace, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Walid Rashid 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faris Khalil, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Majed Omar has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Youssef Al Bloushi and Al Shabab agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Ibrahim 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Shabab, and 5 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match22 Feb 2027
Al Shabab 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ibrahim 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.
Squad22 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Dibba left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Rashid 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
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 11 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 17 days on the sidelines for Majed Al Kamali, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Feb 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Al Shabab did not have in the autumn.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Match6 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Emirates Club, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Al Shamsi at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Shabab.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“I watch every Al Shabab game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sharjah runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Walid Rashid
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Walid Rashid has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al Shabab have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ismail Al Menhali will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for Al Shabab
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al Shaab kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al Shabab will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Market1 Feb 2027
Walid Hassan hands in a written request
“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 Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Al Nasr for Majed Al Kamali 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The match ball belongs to Youssef Al Bloushi, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 7 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al Shabab
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Walid Rashid, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match30 Jan 2027
Whatever happens, Al Shabab do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ibrahim Al Shamsi 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
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ibrahim 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Hamdan Obaid has left for Al Wasl in a $380.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for Al Shabab?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al Jazira? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Ismail Al Hashmi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Shabab say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 52. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al Shabab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ibrahim 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Al Shabab. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ismail Al Hashmi. 1‑0 against Baniyas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Rashid 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 ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rafael Arace 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Jan 2027
Walid Hassan hands in a written request
“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 Shabab can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Youssef Al Bloushi 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
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Match21 Dec 2026
Al Shabab are in real trouble now
Position 13, 10 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.
Match16 Dec 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Shabab scored in the 105th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ibrahim Al Shamsi 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ibrahim Al Shamsi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Shabab 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Market14 Dec 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 Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match12 Dec 2026
Al Shabab leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Walid Hassan
“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.
Player ratings14 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.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Shabab, and 5 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Hassan Suqrat sits out. Al Shabab lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ibrahim Nader 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.
Market7 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
17 combined actions and 6.75. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Al Shabab are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match5 Dec 2026
Al Ahli left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al Shabab scored in the 96th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Walid Rashid at 21 — 7.84
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Walid Rashid did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad30 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ibrahim 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A 3‑2 win over Al Ain, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
At 21 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Walid Rashid 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
Crisis
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al Shabab
Position 12 and 7 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Al Shabab's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Shabab has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Youssef Al Bloushi 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
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ibrahim Nader
52 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 9 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Al Shabab
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al Shabab are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sultan Al Suwaidi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ibrahim Nader
59 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Al Shabab's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Shabab has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 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 Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Walid Rashid 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Emirates Club will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 74 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
Match26 Oct 2026
Al Shabab sink to position 12
6 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Walid Rashid at 21 — 7.85
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Walid Rashid did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Oct 2026
Al Shabab are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Youssef Al Bloushi 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
40 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Shabab, and 3 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ibrahim Nader damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nowhere to hide for Al Shabab
0‑3 against Sharjah, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ibrahim 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Saeed Al Shamsi 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Al Shabab are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Al Shabab 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.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al Shabab, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 10. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match26 Sep 2026
4‑0, and Majed Al Kamali took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al Shabab tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Walid Rashid at 21 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Walid Rashid did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 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 Al Shabab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Walid Rashid 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.60 — 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Shabab.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Walid Rashid 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
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ibrahim 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Sultan Al Suwaidi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. 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 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hamad Al Shamsi, and the manager let it.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Sharjah to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Shabab and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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 Shabab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Al Shabab
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Amer Al Shamsi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Al Ahli, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hamdan Juma has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market7 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hamdan Al Shamsi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al Shabab turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Every debut is a small story about the future: Hamdan Rashid, 17 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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
A muscle injury sidelines Ali Al Hashmi 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Walid Hassan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Shabab say no — this time
The offer from Sharjah for Nasser Hassan 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shabab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamad Al Shamsi commits to Al Shabab for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sultan Al Suwaidi 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
Hassan Suqrat 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.