Marked for Sultan Sabeel
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Aug 2027
The knee: Salem Sultan out for 23 days
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Emirates Club lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match30 Aug 2027
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad30 Aug 2027
27 days out for Hazaa Ammar after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Emirates Club will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Atiq Esam 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Jardel signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jardel commits to Emirates Club for another 3 years.
Market30 Aug 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Emirates Club will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market30 Aug 2027
Saud Al-Hosani is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Emirates Club has been clear about where Saud Al-Hosani stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market30 Aug 2027
Sultan Sabeel is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Hamdan Al Kamali 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Mar 2027
Novak Vuković 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 Fujairah can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ahmed Rashid commits to Al Fujairah for another 3 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ismail 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Jalal, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Fujairah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Sultan Sabeel 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Jan 2027
21 matches without a win for Al Fujairah
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around Al Fujairah are no longer polite ones.
Match18 Jan 2027
Al Fujairah are in real trouble now
Position 14, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
“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 Fujairah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al Fujairah have done the hard part with Al Nasr, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Rashid 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Al Fujairah had all but put away. Dibba will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
17 matches without a win for Al Fujairah
The run now stands at 17, and the questions being asked around Al Fujairah are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match21 Dec 2026
Al Fujairah are in real trouble now
Position 14, 1 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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Match19 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Al Fujairah
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al Fujairah can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Al Jazira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ibrahim Ismail 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match23 Nov 2026
1 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match21 Nov 2026
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Ismail 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 Nov 2026
Al Shaab left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Nasser Al Bloushi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Al Fujairah
A 0‑5 beating by Al Jazira was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Al Fujairah
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Petar Panić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 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.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Al Fujairah 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑5, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Al Fujairah will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sultan Sabeel’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al Fujairah needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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 Fujairah, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Al Ahli, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market31 Aug 2026
Emirates Club pay $210.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Ain have kept their man, and Al Fujairah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Novak Vuković again, and this time the name on the line is Baniyas. Al Fujairah are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ervin Taha 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
Market24 Aug 2026
Sultan Sabeel 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 Fujairah can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Al Fujairah asked and Al Jazira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Mohamed Abdelrahman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ibrahim Ismail is in the works
Al Fujairah have made the call to Al Ahli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amer Rashid and Al Fujairah agree another 3 years.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Novak Vuković 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
A season-long audition: Al Dhafra still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Al Fujairah's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Market24 Aug 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Hassan Ismail arrives from Al Shaab with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Competition arrives for Ervin Taha
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Al Fujairah have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dibba have kept their man, and Al Fujairah go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Rashed Suroor again, and this time the name on the line is Emirates Club. Al Fujairah are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sultan Sabeel and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al Dhafra: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Al Shaab have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Al Shaab: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Al Fujairah are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Al Fujairah training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Novak Vuković 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al Fujairah are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
11 seasons and 127 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Petar Panić and Al Fujairah agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Petar Panić 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
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al Fujairah can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al Fujairah have made the call to Al Ain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Al Fujairah have made the call to Al Nasr. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Baniyas: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Majed Khalfan is in the works
Al Fujairah have made the call to Al Ahli. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sultan Sabeel has his answer from Al Fujairah; what he does with it is the next window’s story.