Marked for Abdullah Madu
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
77 days out for Abdullah Madu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ettifaq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Sep 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Al-Ettifaq
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al-Diriyah kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al-Ettifaq will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Georginio Wijnaldum and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match19 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Al-Ettifaq do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match19 Sep 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Al-Ettifaq
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.
Loan watch21 Sep 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-Ettifaq, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
Match19 Sep 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
Abdullah Madu breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Georginio Wijnaldum took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Ettifaq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdulaziz Al-Hadhood provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Georginio Wijnaldum takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Georginio Wijnaldum provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nobody wants to play Al-Ettifaq right now
6 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al-Ettifaq and Ohod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
91 days out for Abdullah Madu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Ettifaq will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al Ahly had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market7 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-Ettifaq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Ondrej Duda’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Ferencvaros moved on, Ondrej Duda reports back to Al-Ettifaq, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match5 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Ettifaq have 4 straight wins of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Ettifaq close the window on a squad of their own making
18 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 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-Ettifaq this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jordan Larsson. 3‑2 against Al-Hazem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Al-Ettifaq asked and Al-Taawoun said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdullah Madu breaks a bone — 98 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al-Ettifaq have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market31 Aug 2026
Mohau Nkota has left for Al-Qadisiyah in a $1.8M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Yazan Jari
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Ettifaq have done the hard part with Al-Faisaly, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Al-Ettifaq had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ittihad, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match29 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Ettifaq have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Abdullah Al-Dossari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Abdullah Madu breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match22 Aug 2026
7‑0, and Álvaro Medrán took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Ettifaq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Jordan Larsson takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jordan Larsson provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Sparta Prague for Álvaro Medrán was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Rayane Messi at 19 — 8.37
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rayane Messi did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.45, and nobody on the pitch better.
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-Ettifaq, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Al-Shabab have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mohau Nkota. The answer from Al-Ettifaq has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Abdullah Madu out for 113 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ettifaq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sparta Prague waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al-Ettifaq is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match15 Aug 2026
4‑0, and Álvaro Medrán took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Ettifaq tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Rayane Messi at 19 — 7.94
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rayane Messi did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Ettifaq have done the hard part with Al-Shabab, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Georginio Wijnaldum and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Abdullah Madu out for 120 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Ettifaq will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Al-Shabab had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Marek Rodák has come up in conversations Al-Ettifaq were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Hajer for Belal Al-Dawaa was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Ettifaq heard it as anything else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Georginio Wijnaldum 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
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdullah Al-Dossari and Al-Ettifaq agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Ettifaq know which stage they are at.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Haman Mandjan is in the works
Al-Ettifaq have made the call to Al-Hilal. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.