Marked for Abdullah Al Menhali
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Oct 2027
Al Ahli march on in the cup
Baniyas are out and Al Ahli go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Ali Kolahkaj takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match9 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ali Kolahkaj. 3‑2 against Al Shaab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Hamdan Nader 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al Ahli know it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Ali Kolahkaj was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.26. 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Rahid Ismayilov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch11 Oct 2027
“I did not go to Al Dhafra to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al Ahli and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 May 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Menhali 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.
Squad31 May 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.
Market31 May 2027
Walid Ismail returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Squad31 May 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market31 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Salem Al Junaibi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
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Market
Ali Saeed comes back through the gates
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Boardroom
Al Ahli board back the manager
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Apr 2027
Al Ahli refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 46 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market19 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Salem Al Junaibi wants continental football; whether Al Ahli can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Salem 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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 Ahli this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamdan Nader 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Salem Al Junaibi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Ahli 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
Upbeat
Market29 Mar 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Ahli heard it as anything else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Hamdan Nader 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Menhali 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
Squad8 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nicolás Campisi and Al Ahli agree another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Salem 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Abdullah Al Menhali 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
Upbeat
Match22 Feb 2027
Al Ahli refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 43 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Match20 Feb 2027
Al Ahli make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al Ahli have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Salem 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Hamdan Nader 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Salem Al Junaibi
13 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match20 Feb 2027
Sharjah made Al Ahli work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Ahmed Omar at his very best
Marked 8.49. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Ahli.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdullah Al Menhali, and the manager let it.
Loan watch22 Feb 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 Ahli, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Salem Al Junaibi
12 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 1‑0 win over Baniyas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al Ahli training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdullah Al Menhali 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 7.96 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al Ahli had the best player on the pitch.
Squad15 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Dec 2026
Al Ahli through in the cup
A 2‑1 win over Al Ain, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Ahmed Omar runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market21 Dec 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Ahli heard it as anything else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Hamdan Nader 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 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nicolás Campisi, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Hamdan Ismail 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Walid Ismail was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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
Walid Ismail has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Al Ahli 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
Steady
Squad23 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Al Ahli against Sharjah
0‑1 to Sharjah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rashid Suqrat 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Nov 2026
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Abdullah Khalfan, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rashid 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 Ahli have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Al Ahli 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Salem 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match14 Nov 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Abdullah Khalfan in the middle of it, and Baniyas unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Assists: 3. He did not need to score and would probably have been irritated to be asked. A performance built entirely out of other people's finishes.