Marked for Hamdan Abdulrahman
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Dec 2040
Al-Hilal up to position 2
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad3 Dec 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 54 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad3 Dec 2040
21 goals and a season average of 7.50. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market3 Dec 2040
“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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Dec 2040
An order from above at Al-Hilal: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market3 Dec 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morteza Gholizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Hilal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match1 Dec 2040
No end in sight to Al-Hilal's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Hilal has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Dec 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Boardroom3 Dec 2040
$866.3K of the owner's money at Al-Hilal
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Nov 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 61 days out
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.
Squad26 Nov 2040
Defences have started doubling up on Hamdan Abdulrahman
20 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market26 Nov 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Hilal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match24 Nov 2040
Al-Njoom left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Nov 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Squad26 Nov 2040
Jaloliddin Suyunov 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
Triumph
Match10 Nov 2040
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 75 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 75 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Nov 2040
The match ball belongs to Hamdan Abdulrahman, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad12 Nov 2040
19 goals and a season average of 7.49. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market12 Nov 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Nov 2040
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 ratings12 Nov 2040
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match10 Nov 2040
Al-Hilal make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
A performance of 9.88 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Nov 2040
Al-Hilal up to position 1
29 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad5 Nov 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 82 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market5 Nov 2040
“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.
Market5 Nov 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Nov 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nurlan Ibraimov and Al-Hilal agree another 2 years.
Boardroom5 Nov 2040
$754.5K of the owner's money at Al-Hilal
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal cannot stop winning
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad29 Oct 2040
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad29 Oct 2040
A one-man rearguard from Yuki Soma
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.
Match27 Oct 2040
2 behind and going nowhere, until Hamdan Abdulrahman decided otherwise. Al-Hazem had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Squad29 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari 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.
Market29 Oct 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nasser Al-Dawsari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Hilal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 Oct 2040
A season average of 7.39 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match27 Oct 2040
It finished 5‑4, and it was Hamdan Abdulrahman’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Hilal.
Player ratings29 Oct 2040
Marked 10.00 — 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
Triumph
Match20 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal cannot stop winning
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Oct 2040
“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-Hilal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market22 Oct 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jaloliddin Suyunov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Hilal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Squad22 Oct 2040
A season average of 7.26 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match20 Oct 2040
It finished 2‑1, and it was Mohammed Madkhali’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Hilal.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match20 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad15 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match13 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal make it 7 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hilal have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings15 Oct 2040
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market15 Oct 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shodiyor Shodiboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Hilal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Oct 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Match13 Oct 2040
Three points for Al-Hilal, 2‑1 the final word against Al-Batin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match13 Oct 2040
The run at home goes on for Al-Hilal
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad15 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari 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 Oct 2040
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad8 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match6 Oct 2040
Hamdan Abdulrahman wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Hamdan Abdulrahman found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al-Mojzel went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad8 Oct 2040
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match6 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal make it 6 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hilal have 6 straight wins of it.
Market8 Oct 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jerónimo Romeo commits to Al-Hilal for another 2 years.
Match6 Oct 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hamdan Abdulrahman. 4‑3 against Al-Mojzel, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings8 Oct 2040
Marked 9.65 — 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
$195.6K of the owner's money at Al-Hilal
-
Squad
Words at Al-Hilal training over how hard people work
-
Player ratings
Joaquín Rivero runs at them all day
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad1 Oct 2040
Ernando Ari breaks a bone — 117 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings1 Oct 2040
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match29 Sep 2040
Nobody wants to play Al-Hilal right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad1 Oct 2040
A one-man rearguard from Yuki Soma
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.
Market1 Oct 2040
“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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Oct 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Oct 2040
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-Hilal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Sep 2040
It finished 2‑1, and it was Hamdan Abdulrahman’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al-Hilal.
Boardroom1 Oct 2040
Al-Hilal cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Aug 2040
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.
Market13 Aug 2040
Ziyad Mallah 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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings13 Aug 2040
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Aug 2040
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shodiyor Shodiboyev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Hilal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad13 Aug 2040
Ziyad Mallah 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.
Boardroom13 Aug 2040
Graduation day at Al-Hilal
11 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.
Squad13 Aug 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Market13 Aug 2040
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Fahad Al-Ghamdi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market13 Aug 2040
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Al-Salem is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Mar 2040
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match3 Mar 2040
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Al-Shabab had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Al-Hilal did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings5 Mar 2040
A brace, and Joaquín Rivero takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joaquín Rivero provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market5 Mar 2040
“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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Mar 2040
An order from above at Al-Hilal: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad5 Mar 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jerónimo Romeo and Al-Hilal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market5 Mar 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Hilal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings5 Mar 2040
Marked 7.99. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Match3 Mar 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Joaquín Rivero. 4‑2 against Al-Shabab, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
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Boardroom
$1.5M of the owner's money at Al-Hilal
-
Squad
Words at Al-Hilal training over how hard people work
-
Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Hamdan Abdulrahman at his very best
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Feb 2040
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Hilal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market27 Feb 2040
“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.
Market27 Feb 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al-Hilal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match25 Feb 2040
4 matches without a win for Al-Hilal
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Hilal are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Feb 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Match25 Feb 2040
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Owen Xavi Simons had Al-Hilal level again within 4 minutes, and Al-Wehda never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad27 Feb 2040
Khalid Al-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.
Match25 Feb 2040
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings27 Feb 2040
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2040
Al-Hilal sink to position 15
32 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings20 Feb 2040
A brace, and Hamdan Abdulrahman takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hamdan Abdulrahman provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market20 Feb 2040
“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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Market20 Feb 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad20 Feb 2040
Ziyad Mallah 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-Hilal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Feb 2040
Words at Al-Hilal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Rivero 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.
Boardroom20 Feb 2040
No signings allowed at Al-Hilal
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Boardroom20 Feb 2040
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Feb 2040
The match ball belongs to Hamdan Abdulrahman, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market13 Feb 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market13 Feb 2040
“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.
Match11 Feb 2040
Beaten 4‑6, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match11 Feb 2040
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Al-Hilal and Al-Nahda, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Ziyad Mallah 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 ratings13 Feb 2040
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Boardroom13 Feb 2040
Al-Hilal are $48.1M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom30 Jan 2040
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Hilal
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Hilal is running low.
Squad30 Jan 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings30 Jan 2040
Age has not caught Joaquín Rivero yet — 8.01
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.01 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market30 Jan 2040
“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.
Market30 Jan 2040
The name of Shodiyor Shodiboyev has come up in conversations Al-Hilal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match28 Jan 2040
A 3‑1 win over Al-Faisaly, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad30 Jan 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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 Jan 2040
Rian Islomov 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.
Market30 Jan 2040
Al-Nahda are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Hilal will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market23 Jan 2040
“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-Hilal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings23 Jan 2040
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market23 Jan 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Hilal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings23 Jan 2040
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market23 Jan 2040
The phone has started ringing about Owen Xavi Simons again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Nahda. Al-Hilal are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad23 Jan 2040
Words at Al-Hilal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joaquín Rivero 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.
Match21 Jan 2040
A 1‑0 win over Al-Saudi Al-Watani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom23 Jan 2040
No signings allowed at Al-Hilal
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Market23 Jan 2040
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Jan 2040
Nowhere to hide for Al-Hilal
0‑5 against Al-Jeel, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market16 Jan 2040
“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-Hilal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Jan 2040
A move Masoud Moharrami would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Masoud Moharrami is living that version at Al-Hilal, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Joaquín Rivero 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.
Boardroom16 Jan 2040
Al-Hilal are $48.9M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad16 Jan 2040
The manager makes an example of Nurlan Ibraimov
“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.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Rian Islomov left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rian Islomov will call it something else in private.
Boardroom16 Jan 2040
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market16 Jan 2040
Al-Diriyah are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Al-Hilal will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Sep 2039
Jerónimo Romeo had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al-Hazem were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings5 Sep 2039
A brace, and Jerónimo Romeo takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jerónimo Romeo provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market5 Sep 2039
“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-Hilal can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Sep 2039
No end in sight to Al-Hilal's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Hilal has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom5 Sep 2039
The Al-Hilal board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad5 Sep 2039
Khalid Al-Hassan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Sep 2039
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-Hilal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Sep 2039
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hamdan Abdulrahman is living that version at Al-Hilal, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad5 Sep 2039
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nurlan Ibraimov commits to Al-Hilal for another 2 years.