Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ondrej Duda 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Medrán 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.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moussa Dembélé. 1‑0 against Al-Shoulla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.24 — 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
Player ratingsMoussa Dembélé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 24 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Ezequiel Sánchez 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Medrán 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.
Marked 9.02 — 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Matija Gluščević. 1‑0 against Al-Orobah, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.22 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
3 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mohau Nkota 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.
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. Al-Ettifaq have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Álvaro Medrán 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Moussa Dembélé was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.82. 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Moussa Dembélé in the middle of it, and Al-Njoom unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Khalid Al-Ghannam provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.72, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Mohau Nkota, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.33
A mark of 8.33 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deal that would have taken Turki Ba Al-Jawsh to Al-Mojzel has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Ettifaq with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
9 goals in one match, Khalid Al-Ghannam on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Ettifaq and Al-Diriyah.
A performance of 8.71 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Moussa Dembélé'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.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Al-Nahda had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Al-Ettifaq did not stop to explain themselves.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ziyad Al-Ghamdi did not need any: 9.31, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The deal that would have taken Madallah Al-Olayan to Al-Taawoun has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Al-Ettifaq with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Marked 9.58 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Ettifaq training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álvaro Medrán 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
João Costa, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.13
A mark of 9.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Al-Shoulla for Redha Al-Abdullah 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.
Álvaro Medrán 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.
“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-Ettifaq can pretend not to have heard.
Mohau Nkota 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Álvaro Medrán 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 name of Awad Dahal has come up in conversations Al-Ettifaq were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
The offer from Dynamo Kyiv for Marek Rodák 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 ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and João Costa takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. João Costa provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Álvaro Medrán 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Al-Ettifaq
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Jack Hendry was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.45. 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Turki Al-Sultan has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.