Marked for Munas Dabbur
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Baniyas
Position 14 and 16 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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Baniyas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad14 Feb 2028
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Match12 Feb 2028
The goals have deserted Baniyas
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Baniyas can tell you which week it ends in.
Match12 Feb 2028
A bad afternoon for Baniyas against Al Ahli
0‑1 to Al Ahli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mackenzie Hunt, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Munas Dabbur'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.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
23 appearances at Al Shaab and the goals keep coming. Baniyas are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Feb 2028
Anger at Baniyas 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
0‑3 to Al Ain, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Omar Abdulrahman: 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.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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
Squad24 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Jan 2028
Kayque 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 Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Munas Dabbur, 35, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad24 Jan 2028
João Victor 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 Jan 2028
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Defensive actions: 21, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match22 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Munas Dabbur. 1‑0 against Al Wahda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Loan watch24 Jan 2028
“I did not go to Al Ahli to sit and watch. I want to come back to Baniyas and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
Squad24 Jan 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Baniyas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jan 2028
Baniyas sink to position 14
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Baniyas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.56 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match15 Jan 2028
Baniyas are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad17 Jan 2028
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match15 Jan 2028
4 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad17 Jan 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Habib Yousuf has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Baniyas have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jan 2028
Anger at Baniyas 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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match8 Jan 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Baniyas
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Pedro Rebocho 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Baniyas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Match8 Jan 2028
2‑3 to Al Shabab, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Jan 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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Baniyas told Khalfan Mubarak something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Jan 2028
Nowhere to hide for Baniyas
1‑4 against Al Jazira, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 Jan 2028
Baniyas are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Saviour Godwin 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
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad3 Jan 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.
Boardroom3 Jan 2028
Nobody left the Baniyas 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.
Loan watch3 Jan 2028
“Three loans in three years. At some point a club has to decide if I am their player or their asset.” The spell at Al Ahli continues; the message travels home.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Munas Dabbur
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Boardroom
Baniyas pull $262.9K back off the table
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Market
The shop window has Kayque in it
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alassane Diallo
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad27 Dec 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match25 Dec 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Baniyas
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad27 Dec 2027
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Match25 Dec 2027
Saviour Godwin scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Sharjah, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Dec 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alassane Diallo
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Baniyas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Dec 2027
Baniyas sink to position 13
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom20 Dec 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Baniyas
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baniyas is running low.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Munas Dabbur, 35, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad20 Dec 2027
19 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Saviour Godwin 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
Baniyas are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match18 Dec 2027
It finished 3‑2, and it was Naoufel Zerhouni’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Baniyas.
The terraces20 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdoulaye Touré 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Baniyas
12 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.
Match22 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Baniyas
Position 13 and 8 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.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Baniyas
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Baniyas is running low.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 8.36
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.36 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Pedro Rebocho 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Naoufel Zerhouni among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Naoufel Zerhouni on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baniyas and Al Nasr.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fahad Al-Dhanhani, and the manager let it.
Match20 Nov 2027
3‑3, 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
Crisis
The terraces15 Nov 2027
The mood at Baniyas 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.
Match13 Nov 2027
11 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Nov 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad15 Nov 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad15 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Nov 2027
No end in sight to Baniyas's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baniyas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Nov 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 7.88
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad8 Nov 2027
João Victor 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
It needed Munas Dabbur to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al Ain, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The plan did not have a place for João Victor
Nobody at Baniyas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces18 Oct 2027
The mood at Baniyas 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
7 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad18 Oct 2027
5 new faces, and Baniyas 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
“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.
Match16 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Shots: 14, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2027
Baniyas out of the cup
Al Ahli ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad11 Oct 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match9 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Baniyas's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baniyas has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.49 for the rest of it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Pedro Rebocho 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.
Match9 Oct 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Baniyas
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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
Match2 Oct 2027
A 2-goal lead gone for Baniyas
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al Jazira kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Baniyas will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A brace, and Munas Dabbur takes the afternoon — 9.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Munas Dabbur provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A brace, and Saviour Godwin takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saviour Godwin provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“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.
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Baniyas's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baniyas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pablo Ceppelini commits to Baniyas for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
5‑5, 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
Crisis
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Baniyas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad27 Sep 2027
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Saviour Godwin 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
Sharjah left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market27 Sep 2027
Kayque wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Sep 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.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“I watch every Baniyas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al Ahli runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The plan did not have a place for Rashed Mohamed
Nobody at Baniyas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Munas Dabbur, 35, rolls back the years — 7.99
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdoulaye Touré is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Saviour Godwin 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 Sep 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
220 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Munas Dabbur, 35, rolls back the years — 7.84
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikola Vukić is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Fahad Al-Dhanhani 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Baniyas
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Mackenzie Hunt has improved at 25, 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 21. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market6 Sep 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Hassan Saeed has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market6 Sep 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohamed Ismail 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Aug 2027
The mood at Baniyas 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alassane Diallo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Munas Dabbur has improved at 35, 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.
In brief
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Squad
Pedro Rebocho in a row with a teammate
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Squad
5 new faces, and Baniyas are still learning each other
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market1 Feb 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Baniyas
6 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
31 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Baniyas know what they have.
Match30 Jan 2027
Dibba left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Nassim Chadli 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pablo Ceppelini, and the manager let it.
Market1 Feb 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Baniyas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marquinho 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
Match18 Jan 2027
Baniyas are in real trouble now
Position 14, 16 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
The medical room confirms 67 days on the sidelines for Yahia Nader, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Baniyas
4 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of João Victor
“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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match16 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for Baniyas?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Emirates Club? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
10 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jan 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Saviour Godwin 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Business is business: Luiz Turatto goes
Al Ain paid $350.0K and Baniyas took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Match9 Jan 2027
Munas Dabbur scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Al Shabab, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Marquinho 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Baniyas needed to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 8.02
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad4 Jan 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Jacob Awoute again, and this time the name on the line is Al Ahli. Baniyas are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Dec 2026
Baniyas are in real trouble now
Position 14, 13 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.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A brace, and Naoufel Zerhouni takes the afternoon — 8.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Naoufel Zerhouni provided it, and the 8.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Dec 2026
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Dec 2026
Al Shaab made Baniyas work for it, but the scoreboard read 4‑3 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match19 Dec 2026
Naoufel Zerhouni among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Naoufel Zerhouni on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Baniyas and Al Shaab.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to João Victor, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marquinho 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
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Dec 2026
6 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Fawaz Awana: 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.” Baniyas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad14 Dec 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
Al Dhafra left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 41 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Baniyas's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Baniyas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Nov 2026
João Victor 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
A bad afternoon for Baniyas against Al Wasl
1‑3 to Al Wasl, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match28 Nov 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Baniyas
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Marquinho 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Nov 2026
Munas Dabbur had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al Ahli were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Munas Dabbur takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Munas Dabbur, 34, rolls back the years — 9.78
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.78 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Saviour Godwin 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
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 73 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match31 Oct 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Mackenzie Hunt scored in the 85th minute, Dibba had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Baniyas took the lot.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Baniyas — 7.76
1 for Mackenzie Hunt, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Squad2 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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mackenzie Hunt. 2‑1 against Dibba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 96% of everything Baniyas earn
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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 80 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Oct 2026
Baniyas sink to position 14
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match24 Oct 2026
8 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Oct 2026
João Victor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Al Wahda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Oct 2026
7 matches without a win for Baniyas
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Baniyas are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
João Victor 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Jacob Awoute is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Baniyas
4 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Saviour Godwin 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 Oct 2026
Solomon Sosu is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Baniyas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pablo Ceppelini 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
117% of the income goes out in wages at Baniyas
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.86. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
The one thing Munas Dabbur could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Saviour Godwin 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Jacob Awoute is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Suhail Al-Noobi out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Baniyas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Sep 2026
Al Fujairah will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Baniyas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Alassane Diallo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99
A mark of 7.99 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Munas Dabbur yet — 8.55
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.55 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Baniyas can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Mackenzie Hunt pops up at the right end — 7.62
7.62, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Baniyas
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.
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 Baniyas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
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.