From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
The knee: Zidan Nageh out for 31 days
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Ahly lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market24 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Military Production waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Rapid Wien moved on, Achraf Bencharki reports back to Al Ahly, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$3.9M on the table at Al Wasl. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.12, and nobody on the pitch better.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Emam Ashour goes up and wins it — 7.80
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 7.80 for the rest of it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
An offer of $73.0K for Louay Wael
Al Ahly have gone to Arab Contractors with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sparta Prague waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match15 Aug 2026
3‑0, and Soufiane Benjdida took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al Ahly tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Eyad Tamer had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market17 Aug 2026
Al Ahly say no — this time
The offer from Latina for Achraf Dari 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
A falling-out at Al Ahly
Mohamed Hany and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Youssef Belammari was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
One of those days for Zizo
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Al Ahly training over how hard people work
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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Squad
Soufiane Benjdida finally opens his account
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and USM Khenchela waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Ahly is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Karim Fouad had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 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 Ahly, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and Al Ahly agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mohamed Hany 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
310 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Al Ahly know exactly what they have.
Market3 Aug 2026
Al Ahly say no — this time
The offer from Paradou for Monsef Bakrar 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 win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al Ahly hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Achraf Bencharki and Al Ahly agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Al Ahly
Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al Ahly have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.