Marked for Mousa Sufiani
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jan 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Shoulla will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match1 Jan 2028
0‑3 against Al-Jeel, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market3 Jan 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 terraces3 Jan 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Mousa Sufiani: 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-Shoulla have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Ahmed Bamasud 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Nidhal Ben Salem 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 Jan 2028
Nobody left the Al-Shoulla 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.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Aug 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-Shoulla are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad9 Aug 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Adeeb Al-Hassan and Al-Shoulla agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
94% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Shoulla
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market9 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mousa Sufiani may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
Ahmed Bamasud 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-Shoulla can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 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 Al-Shoulla this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Joanderson
“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
Market5 Jul 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ahmed Bamasud 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Mousa Sufiani has improved at 30, 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
The medical room confirms 35 days on the sidelines for Daniil Barinov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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
Market14 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
The paperwork is done: Ahmed Bamasud joins from Al-Fayha in a deal worth $520.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Takumi Matsui is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Grey Garbino 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 terraces14 Jun 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ahmed Bamasud from Al-Fayha for $520.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Grey Garbino 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Al-Shoulla training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Market3 May 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Shoulla, another week without a signature from Joanderson.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mousa Sufiani damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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-Saudi Al-Watani can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Mousa Sufiani damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Market5 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Habib
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Shoulla lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Shoulla know it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Sinali Béré 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
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Saudi Al-Watani has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Nov 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from José Sifuentes at 21 — 8.15
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. José Sifuentes did not need any: 8.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
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 Al-Saudi Al-Watani this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. José Sifuentes 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Al-Aboud, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
8 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nidhal Ben Salem and Al-Shoulla agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sinali Béré 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nidhal Ben Salem 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Kissimbo told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kissimbo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Shoulla.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tolba Mohamed has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Shoulla know it, and so does everybody who watches him.