Marked for Dušan Tadić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Saša Ivković 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Al Ain leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Saša Ivković 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 Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 562% of everything Al Wahda 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 ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammed Al-Shamsi, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Zob Ahan will make the call about Facundo Kruspzky this week. Al Wahda have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market7 Sep 2026
Ali Abdulrahman is 16, and Al Wahda have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 16, and nobody at Al Wahda signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Market31 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Zob Ahan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Facundo Kruspzky. The answer from Al Wahda has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Dušan Tadić 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 Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market31 Aug 2026
Al Wasl pay $910.0K, 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Mohammed Al-Shamsi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Wahda say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody else's move, somebody else's headline. What it left at Al Wahda is an empty peg and a footballer who keeps glancing at it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Dibba drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dušan Tadić 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
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Wahda say no — this time
The offer from Al-Ahli for Facundo Kruspzky 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dušan Tadić 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 Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Omar Khribin keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Wahda say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jadsom and Al Wahda agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dušan Tadić 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 Al Wahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Saša Ivković's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oumarou Diadje has his answer from Al Wahda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Jadsom 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 Jadsom trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
In brief
-
Market
Experience through the door at Al Wahda
-
Squad
A wage question at Al Wahda
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Wahda say no — this time
The offer from Paradou for Gerónimo Rivera 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al Wahda heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dušan Tadić and Al Wahda agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dušan Tadić 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Abdelaziz Mohamed has come up in conversations Al Wahda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
In brief
-
Squad
Jadsom asks for a word with the manager
-
Squad
A wage question at Al Wahda