Marked for Saad Al-Mutairi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Mojzel
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Mojzel is running low.
The terraces1 Feb 2027
The mood at Al-Mojzel has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match30 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
6 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Sami Al-Harbi 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-Mojzel can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market1 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Salem Al-Otaibi again, and this time the name on the line is Ohod. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market1 Feb 2027
The chase for Sultan Al-Harbi ended with $56.0K changing hands and Al-Wehda out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Youssef Al-Salem 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 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.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
He is going to Al-Nahda, the club has $220.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Al-Khaibari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Mojzel the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Mojzel
4 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.96 beside his name.
Match16 Jan 2027
3‑4 to Al-Diriyah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al-Mojzel and Al-Diriyah, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Match9 Jan 2027
The goals have deserted Al-Mojzel
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Mojzel can tell you which week it ends in.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Talal Al-Sultan 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.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Ohod to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 7.17 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Al-Mojzel had the best player on the pitch.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Al-Harbi 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ali Al-Dawsari knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Pressure builds in the Al-Mojzel boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Al-Hazem, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch4 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 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
92% 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Fahad Al-Enezi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Fahad Al-Enezi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Al-Mojzel have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Sami Al-Harbi is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Mojzel has been clear about where Sami Al-Harbi stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al-Mojzel
A 0‑3 beating by Al-Fayha was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market28 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Zahrani, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al-Salem 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
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Mojzel have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Nov 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.
Squad30 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Al-Ettifaq, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad30 Nov 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.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Damac to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 12 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Mojzel they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Bandar Al-Dawsari’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Mojzel.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch23 Nov 2026
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Ittihad runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Khalid 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Ali Al-Salem
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Nov 2026
11 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market16 Nov 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al-Salem 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahmed Al-Salem and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ohod runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Youssef Al-Salem something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
10 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Match9 Nov 2026
Al-Mojzel sink to position 16
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Mojzel may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match7 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Mojzel
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑3 to Al-Orobah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yasser Al-Sheikh, and the manager let it.
Player ratings9 Nov 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 watch9 Nov 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-Mojzel, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al-Mojzel
Position 14 and 5 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.
Market12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Match10 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Al-Riyadh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Al-Mojzel game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ohod runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Khalid 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Mojzel told Yasser Al-Sheikh something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
5 matches without a win for Al-Mojzel
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Al-Mojzel are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
34 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Mojzel are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al-Salem 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Al-Diriyah, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
Market28 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-Mojzel, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Al-Mojzel's wait for a win
4 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Khalid Al-Mansour has agreed terms with Al-Ettifaq for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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
“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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.78 on the card, and the Al-Mojzel support went home talking about one name.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Al-Nahda leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Al-Mojzel
0‑3 against Al-Hazem, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Mojzel is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ahmed Al-Khaibari has agreed terms with Ohod for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khalid Al-Mansour 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ali Al-Salem, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Al-Mojzel 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 watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Ohod to sit and watch. I want to come back to Al-Mojzel and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nasser Al-Dawsari damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Fahad Al-Enezi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 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.
Market24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Khalid Al-Mansour again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Nahda. Al-Mojzel are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al-Salem 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fahad Al-Enezi 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
9 combined actions and 6.73. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Al-Ettifaq, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Al-Shoulla come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Mojzel did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Mojzel
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Faisal Al-Shehri 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yasser Al-Otaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Shammari, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hassan Al-Zahrani and Al-Mojzel agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Saad Al-Mutairi 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
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorge Samaniego 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ali Al-Salem 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Hassan Al-Harbi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Mojzel.
Market10 Aug 2026
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 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.
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-Mojzel this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Al-Mojzel training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youssef Al-Salem 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al-Mojzel have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Talal Al-Ghamdi and Al-Mojzel agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ahmed Al-Otaibi has his answer from Al-Mojzel; what he does with it is the next window’s story.