Marked for Khaled Ebraheim
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Dhafra have kept their man, and Al Fujairah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Saleh Al-Mesmari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Salem Sultan pulls a muscle — 17 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amer Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
Petar Panić gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Petar Panić is on it.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ervin Taha's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ismail Al Naqbi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Al Fujairah 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.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Novak Vuković has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Al Fujairah is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
The deal with Emirates Club is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mouhameth Diop and Al Fujairah agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Sultan Yaqoob and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Al Fujairah asked and Baniyas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Rashed Suroor 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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Intake day at the Al Fujairah academy
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Jun 2028
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
The mood at Al Fujairah 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Al Fujairah
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al Fujairah is running low.
Squad26 Jun 2028
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Al Fujairah asked and Al Nasr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulla Anwar 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ervin Taha 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.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Mouhameth Diop asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“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
Uneasy
Market8 May 2028
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zayed Al-Ameri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 May 2028
Saleh Al-Mesmari 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 dugout8 May 2028
Mouhameth Diop asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout8 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ervin Taha's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout8 May 2028
Yousif Ahmed 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
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Fujairah lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Obaida Al-Najjar: 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Sultan Yaqoob and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zayed Al-Ameri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Apr 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdulla Anwar
45 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.
Match3 Apr 2028
Every point is an argument now for Al Fujairah
Position 13 and 17 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.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ismail Al Naqbi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The terraces3 Apr 2028
Anger at Al Fujairah spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al Fujairah
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Apr 2028
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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rayan Yaslam and Al Fujairah agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meshal Hamad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Rayan Yaslam
“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
Match11 Dec 2027
7 matches without a win for Al Fujairah
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Al Fujairah are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Hassan Sani Mohamed 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“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 Fujairah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rashed Suroor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Saleh Al-Mesmari
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ervin Taha, and the manager let it.
Match11 Dec 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ismail Al Naqbi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Hassan Sani Mohamed 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.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
Match23 Oct 2027
Al Wahda left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ismail Al Naqbi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Rashed Suroor 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Saleh Al-Mesmari dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Something was said to Petar Panić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Looking ahead25 Oct 2027
Dibba next, and one man in the Al Fujairah dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
Kamal Taha breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Jun 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
The fee is $1.1M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sharjah drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
The offer went to Al Wahda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$25.0K on the table at Al Ain. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$94.0K was the most the club would pay and Al Ain were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Sultan Al-Saadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yussif Suleiman and Al Fujairah agree another 4 years.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Panić, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Al Jazira wanted more than $2.9M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
An offer of $580.0K for Khauan
Sharjah have gone to Al Ain with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market28 Jun 2027
Al Fujairah paid $1.1M and Sharjah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market28 Jun 2027
The name of Mayed Saeed has come up in conversations Sharjah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Charles Pickel 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
Business is business: Kodjo Laba goes
Al Shabab paid $67.0K and Sharjah took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad28 Jun 2027
23 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad28 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Sharjah
Mayed Saeed 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
Market10 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Khaled Tawhid
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Khaled Tawhid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sharjah the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 May 2027
Charles Pickel 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 May 2027
Words at Sharjah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Firas Ben Larbi 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 dugout10 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Leandrinho, and the manager let it.
Squad10 May 2027
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout10 May 2027
Saldanha knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Saldanha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Khaled Ebraheim’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad10 May 2027
Maro Katinić wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Sharjah have no good answer.
The dugout10 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sharjah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Leandrinho is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad29 Mar 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 Sharjah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Firas Ben Larbi 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Majid Rashid, and the manager let it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I watch every Sharjah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Shaab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khaled Ebraheim signs something — a contract at Sharjah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Arshia Sarshogh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sharjah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
25 starts now, an average of 6.61, and the team sheet at Dibba has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Mar 2027
Sharjah finish in position 8
43 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Sharjah
Majed Al Suwaidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Sharjah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Charles Pickel 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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A bad afternoon for Sharjah against Al Nasr
0‑2 to Al Nasr, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at Sharjah
Something was said to Kodjo Laba and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Sharjah lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market22 Mar 2027
The Luan Pereira story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luan Pereira signs something — a contract at Sharjah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Shabab keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Sharjah
Majed Al Suwaidi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market25 Jan 2027
Sultan Al-Saadi has left for Al Fujairah in a $92.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match23 Jan 2027
Al Shaab left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market25 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Al Fujairah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Khaled Tawhid. The answer from Sharjah has not changed — yet.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
Sharjah say no — this time
The offer from Al Fujairah for Ousmane Camara 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Sharjah will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Age has not caught Igor Coronado yet — 8.42
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.42 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Leandrinho is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Jan 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Sharjah. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ain have kept their man, and Sharjah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch4 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Al Nasr to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sharjah and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Market4 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Khaled Ebraheim has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Sharjah.
Match2 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sharjah
Charles Pickel 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sharjah told Majed Al Suwaidi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.49, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Malek Janeer
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Majid Rashid
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match21 Nov 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Al Wahda defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market23 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Majed Al Suwaidi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Dibba in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Igor Coronado 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Charles Pickel 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kodjo Laba, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Khaled Ebraheim’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sharjah needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Firas Ben Larbi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A door opens for Saldanha
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Malek Janeer 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 Sharjah, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Market16 Nov 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Rashed Humaid Al-Blooshi leaves Sharjah the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.18, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 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 Sharjah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Luan Pereira. 3‑1 against Emirates Club, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Sharjah, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Ousmane Camara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mohamed Nader on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dhari Fahad 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.
Market9 Nov 2026
The Erik story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Erik signs something — a contract at Sharjah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sharjah
Charles Pickel 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
2‑3 to Al Dhafra, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Majid Rashid 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohamed Nader after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad28 Sep 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; Sharjah are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dhari Fahad 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Majed Al Suwaidi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.