Marked for Omar Hassan
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Fahad Yaqoob 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
Fahad Ismail 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
25 starts now, an average of 6.62, and the team sheet at Al Fujairah has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Fahad Yaqoob in a row with a teammate
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Nasser Al Kamali 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
Match22 Mar 2027
Al Fujairah are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 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.
Market22 Mar 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 The request is on a desk at Al Fujairah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Mar 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Fujairah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Saleh Al-Mesmari damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Market15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Mohamed Jalal: 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 Fujairah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nasser Al Kamali 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.
Squad15 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Jaime Vásquez breaks a bone — 18 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 Feb 2027
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Saleh Al-Mesmari
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Fujairah lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market22 Feb 2027
Falah Waleed 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 Fujairah can pretend not to have heard.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Al Fujairah's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Fujairah has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A one-man rearguard from Omar Hassan
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Gabriel Santini: 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 Fujairah have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al Fujairah they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match20 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Al Fujairah
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Josepmir Ballón out for 29 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shaab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match13 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Al Shaab
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Al Shaab cannot find the net
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Emirates Club, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khalid Butti 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A smaller club would suit Fahad Yaqoob now
He has had enough of the noise. Whether Al Shaab can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
24 starts now, an average of 6.62, and the team sheet at Al Fujairah has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Feb 2027
Jaime Vásquez breaks a bone — 41 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Saleh Al-Mesmari damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Market1 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Fujairah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Al Fujairah's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Fujairah has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sultan Fayez has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Omar Hassan in a row with a teammate
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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Lucas Melgarejo 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Jaime Vásquez out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Saleh Al-Mesmari damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
Match25 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al Fujairah
Position 14 and 12 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A one-man rearguard from Omar Hassan
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Falah Waleed 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 Fujairah can pretend not to have heard.
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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Fujairah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Fujairah is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Gabriel Santini has agreed terms with Al Shaab for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Hamad Al Suwaidi
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Shaab lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Fahad Yaqoob 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
1‑2 to Al Jazira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Marked 8.08 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
12 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Jaime Vásquez breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Saleh Al-Mesmari damages knee ligaments — 109 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 109 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The small margins put Al Fujairah out
Out, 0‑1 to Al Jazira, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market21 Dec 2026
Novak Vuković 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 Fujairah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Josepmir Ballón out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shaab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Dec 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Al Shaab
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Baniyas kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al Shaab will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
There were 8 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al Shaab may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Jaime Vásquez out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Dec 2026
10 matches without a win for Al Fujairah
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Al Fujairah are no longer polite ones.
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 Fujairah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Omar Hassan 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Sharjah left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Angel Enciso 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
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
9 matches without a win for Al Fujairah
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Al Fujairah are no longer polite ones.
Match5 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Baniyas, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Omar Hassan in a row with a teammate
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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Lucas Melgarejo 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Hassan, and the manager let it.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Al Fujairah 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Josepmir Ballón out for 121 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shaab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Hamad Al Bloushi: 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 Shaab have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jhon Figueroa, and the manager let it.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 1‑0 win over Al Fujairah, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.68. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match2 Nov 2026
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Al Fujairah's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al Fujairah has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Mohamed Jalal
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al Fujairah
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 46 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Omar Hassan in a row with a teammate
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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Lucas Melgarejo 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
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Al Shaab
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted Al Shaab
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al Shaab can tell you which week it ends in.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑1 to Al Nasr, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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
The manager makes an example of Amer Al Hashmi
“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
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mats Bångsbo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Oct 2026
A 1‑0 win over Al Wasl, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Al Fujairah — 7.76
1 for Abdelrahman Al-Shuweihi, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mats Bångsbo 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mohammad Essa has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Squad12 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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Adel Al-Chadli
“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
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Khalfan Al Naqbi out for 18 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Shaab will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 10 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 Sep 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ervin Taha in a row with a teammate
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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Saman Torabi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Saman Torabi has just signed for Al Fujairah, and for once the answer mattered.
Match19 Sep 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Lucas Melgarejo had Al Fujairah level again within 2 minutes, and Al Jazira never got to play with a lead at all.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Al Jazira leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 90 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Sep 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Jaime Vásquez yet — 8.06
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sharjah made Al Fujairah work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Lucas Melgarejo 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Mats Bångsbo has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al Fujairah will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Ervin Taha
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market14 Sep 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Al Fujairah have gone and got theirs early.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 97 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market7 Sep 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 Sep 2026
Omar Hassan 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Omar Hassan 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Novak Vuković 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
Al Fujairah hit back inside 3 minutes
Baniyas held the lead for 3 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al Fujairah answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Match5 Sep 2026
It needed Mouhameth Diop to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Baniyas, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
No investment in the facilities at Al Fujairah
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Saleh Al-Mesmari out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Fujairah will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 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 Fujairah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 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 Fujairah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
The stands have heard the Khalfan Al Naqbi talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Al Shaab would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A new face in his position, and Walid Al Junaibi suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Al Shaab have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Questions about Faisal Hussain on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
Market31 Aug 2026
Somebody from Al Ain has seen every one of Khalfan Al Naqbi’s last few games. Nobody travels that far that often out of curiosity, and everybody at Al Shaab knows it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 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 Shaab, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ali Mabkhout has left for Emirates Club in a $1.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Fahad Yaqoob in a row with a teammate
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 Shaab this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Khalfan Al Naqbi 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Khalfan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Baniyas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al Shaab did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Fahad Yaqoob 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al Shaab training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khalfan Al Naqbi 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Al Fujairah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Omar Hassan. The answer from Al Shaab has not changed — yet.
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Shaab bring in an old head
Josepmir Ballón is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A season on the outside for Jhon Figueroa
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al Shaab has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.