Marked for Ibrahim Al-Shammari
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Saeed Al-Sultan out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2027
Youssef Al-Ahmadi had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al-Ta'ee were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Dec 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Dec 2027
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Mojzel has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Mojzel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match11 Dec 2027
2‑3 to Al-Ta'ee, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bandar Al-Sheikh 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Saeed Al-Sultan out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Dec 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Match4 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Jeel runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad6 Dec 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Bandar Al-Sheikh 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 ratings6 Dec 2027
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Mojzel.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
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.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
101% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Mojzel
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Oct 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
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.
Match16 Oct 2027
Al-Njoom left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Bandar Al-Sheikh 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moataz Al-Baqawi, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Nobody at Al-Mojzel 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
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Mojzel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match28 Aug 2027
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Salem Al-Shammari scored in the 87th minute, Al-Ta'ee had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Al-Mojzel took the lot.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
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. 7.86, and 2 involvements.
Match28 Aug 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Salem Al-Shammari’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Mojzel.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Salem Al-Shammari 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Bandar Al-Sheikh 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Salem, and the manager let it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ibrahim Al-Shammari 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 ratings30 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Uneasy
Market3 May 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 May 2027
Mehdi Al-Aboud 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 May 2027
Ali Al-Nemer 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
Market19 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faisal Al-Subaie, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 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.
Market19 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Mojzel know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Apr 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ibrahim Al-Shammari may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Abdullah Al-Harbi 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bandar Al-Sheikh 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 watch12 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Al-Batin to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 8 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Al-Nemer 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Salem, and the manager let it.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Al-Njoom to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 10 matches say the rest.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Salem Al-Shammari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 7.37 on 15 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Loan watch11 Jan 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-Mojzel, and 6 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad11 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Al-Nemer 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
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Mojzel will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match19 Sep 2026
Al-Mojzel 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.
Squad21 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 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.