Marked for Bandar Al-Salem
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Artem Meshalkin is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Mikhail Osipov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Ahmed Al-Sheikh takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmed Al-Sheikh provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market7 Sep 2026
Al-Mojzel say no — this time
The offer from Al-Nahda for Salman Al-Shehri 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Ohod pay $72.0K, 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Ahmed Al-Sheikh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Mojzel.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faisal Al-Mansour, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Juan Martín Suárez is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
4 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Al-Mojzel say no — this time
The offer from Al-Fateh for Salman Al-Shehri 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.
Market10 Aug 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hamad Al-Shehri commits to Al-Mojzel for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ahmed 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Faisal Al-Mansour 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al-Mojzel, and both men came out saying it was fine.