The Ismaily Courier
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A first appearance Anwar Abdelsalam will want to forget — 5.59
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.59, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Éric Traoré 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 Ismaily this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Ismaily
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market17 Aug 2026
Eyes on Hassan Saber again
The phone has started ringing about Hassan Saber again, and this time the name on the line is Police Union. Ismaily are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Hossam Mohsen joins the Ismaily first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hossam Mohsen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ismaily promote Ashraf Warda from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ashraf Warda 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No hiding place for Khaled Al-Nabris
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Khaled Al-Nabris, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Abdelkarim Mostafa 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Ismaily turn down the training-ground plan
It is the quietest way a club tells you what its ambitions are. The money was asked for, the money was refused, and the people who work there every day now know exactly where they stand.
In brief
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Khaled Al-Nabris
- Market No place for Abdelrahman Mahrous in the plan
- Squad Ahmed Adel left out for tactical reasons at Ismaily