Al Dhafra U18

Emirati Pro League U18
26 Sep 2027
Sunday
Process
60 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

20 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed stands alone

10 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.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Abderahmane Soussi: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Serafim is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

A late step up for Karim El Berkaoui

At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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 ratings

Sory Kaba in the eights

A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

No time for Sharjah to settle

The goal that put Sharjah ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Al Dhafra equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.

Match

Al Dhafra and Sharjah take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

In brief

Back issues
59 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

13 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Real improvement from Arielson at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arielson is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A move Ahmed Abdulrahman would have made for nothing

There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ahmed Abdulrahman is living that version at Al Dhafra, and it tends to show in the first month.

Squad

Khalid Bawazir has improved at 32, 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Al Dhafra against Baniyas

0‑2 to Baniyas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Amjad Al-Sayed gets it from the manager

“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.

The dugout

Khalid Suqrat: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Abdulla Al-Karbi

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

In brief

58 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Amjad Al-Sayed

There were 13 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 ratings

Sory Kaba scores twice — 9.45

Two goals and a mark of 9.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Ashkan Rashedi 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.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 15 signed and 9 gone

That is the business done at Al Dhafra until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

Naft Tehran come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Al Dhafra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Sory Kaba 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Al Dhafra see off Al Shaab

Three points for Al Dhafra, 4‑3 the final word against Al Shaab in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

7 goals as Al Dhafra and Al Shaab go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al Dhafra and Al Shaab, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Al Dhafra

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

In brief

57 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

30 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Francisco Sciarini at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Francisco Sciarini is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Jobson

At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

Eyes on Arielson again

The phone has started ringing about Arielson again, and this time the name on the line is Naft Tehran. Al Dhafra are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Dhafra, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

56 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The step up is real for Serafim

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ashkan Rashedi 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Karim El Berkaoui

At 31 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

The Ibrahim Bayesh question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrahim Bayesh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Arielson has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Al Dhafra that is a harder question to answer.

The dugout

The manager makes Mansoor Al-Harbi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Dhafra. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

55 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Pogon for Abderahmane Soussi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

The step up is real for Arielson

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A late step up for Khalid Bawazir

At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Mansoor Al-Harbi

“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.

In brief

54 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Real improvement from Ashkan Rashedi at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ashkan Rashedi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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.

Squad

Yousef Al-Mansoοri stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Yousef Al-Mansoοri and Al Dhafra agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Rostand Djooh

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

The Karim El Berkaoui story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karim El Berkaoui signs something — a contract at Al Dhafra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

A door opens for Marcelinho

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Al Dhafra

43 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Market

Zé Welinton leaves for nothing

Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Zé Welinton leaves Al Dhafra the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.

In brief

53 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Dibba come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Al Dhafra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Mansoor Al-Harbi

At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 5 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Market

Al Dhafra and Ibrahim Bayesh are talking past each other

“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.

The dugout

Serafim 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 Serafim trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Al Dhafra have started building around Ashkan Rashedi

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

In brief

52 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Al Shabab for Sory Kaba 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Sory Kaba 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rostand Djooh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rostand Djooh, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Serafim knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Dhafra, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Ibrahim Bayesh question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrahim Bayesh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

51 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

Rostand Djooh 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Al Jazira for Ibrahim Bayesh

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Al Dhafra sell Zackariah Mohammed for $1.4M

Zackariah Mohammed has left for Al Ahli in a $1.4M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim Bayesh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Bayesh, and the manager let it.

Market

Al Dhafra and Rostand Djooh are talking past each other

“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.

Market

The Karim El Berkaoui story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karim El Berkaoui signs something — a contract at Al Dhafra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Ezeckiel Noumonvi 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.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Al Dhafra

43 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

Squad

The transfer that hurt Arielson most

Somebody else's move, somebody else's headline. What it left at Al Dhafra is an empty peg and a footballer who keeps glancing at it.

In brief

49 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Dibba for Arielson 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.

Market

Eyes on Zackariah Mohammed again

The phone has started ringing about Zackariah Mohammed again, and this time the name on the line is Al Ahli. Al Dhafra are listening politely and promising nothing.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Rostand Djooh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Mansoor Al-Harbi has improved at 27, 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.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Ibrahim Bayesh

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Al Dhafra academy

5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.

The dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yousef Al-Mansoοri 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.

Squad

Serafim moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Al Dhafra than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

In brief

48 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Emirates Club for Muhamed Suwareh

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Only the photograph left for Feras Saleh

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Feras Saleh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Dhafra the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Arielson 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

A late step up for Jobson

At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.

Transfer targets

Monza tell Al Dhafra: Aljaž Strajnar is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Muhamed Suwareh

“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.

Market

The Ibrahim Bayesh question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrahim Bayesh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Amjad Al-Sayed keeps the shirt for now, at Al Dhafra's convenience rather than his own.

In brief

47 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Al Jazira for Karim El Berkaoui 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Serafim at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Serafim is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Estudiantes tell Al Dhafra: Rodrigo Borzone is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A late step up for Zackariah Mohammed

At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 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.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra ask about Ashkan Rashedi

A loan enquiry to Zob Ahan: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra try to borrow Aljaž Strajnar

Monza 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.

The dugout

Zackariah Mohammed gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Jobson linked with a move away

The name of Jobson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

46 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 14 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Al Nasr for Sory Kaba

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Meshari Sunyur

Al Dhafra asked and Al-Qadisiyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Muhamed Suwareh attracts admirers

The name of Muhamed Suwareh has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra try to borrow Rodrigo Borzone

Estudiantes 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 targets

Al Dhafra ask about Francisco Sciarini

A loan enquiry to Guarani: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Market

The Karim El Berkaoui story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karim El Berkaoui signs something — a contract at Al Dhafra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

45 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 21 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Fahad Al-Dhanhani rejects the move

Al Dhafra had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Baniyas, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Abdulla Al-Karbi signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdulla Al-Karbi and Al Dhafra agree another 4 years.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Fahad Al-Dhanhani

Al Dhafra asked and Baniyas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rostand Djooh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rostand Djooh, and the manager let it.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Meshari Sunyur is in the works

Al Dhafra have made the call to Al-Qadisiyah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

Still no ink between Al Dhafra and Abdulla Al-Karbi

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al Dhafra, another week without a signature from Abdulla Al-Karbi.

Squad

Abderahmane Soussi moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Al Dhafra than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

In brief

44 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 29 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Feras Saleh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

In brief

43 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

36 days out for Khalid Bawazir after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Dhafra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Market

Jobson linked with a move away

The name of Jobson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

The manager makes Mansoor Al-Harbi a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al Dhafra. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

42 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 44 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Abdulla Al-Karbi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Abdulla Al-Karbi gets it from the manager

“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.

The dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Market

The Karim El Berkaoui story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Karim El Berkaoui signs something — a contract at Al Dhafra or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Match

Al Dhafra have something to play for

Position 6 on 43 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

The dugout

A door opens for Khalil Ibrahim

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

41 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 51 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Rostand Djooh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zackariah Mohammed

“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.

Market

The Sory Kaba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Dhafra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Abdulla Al-Karbi 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.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Arielson

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Market

Still no signature from Abdulla Al-Karbi

2 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al Dhafra could get for him.

Squad

Ezeckiel Noumonvi has seen what the next man earns

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Al Dhafra that is a harder question to answer.

Squad

Szymon Weirauch has settled at Al Dhafra

The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.

In brief

40 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 59 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Feras Saleh

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Feras Saleh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al Dhafra the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Mohamed El Khaloui signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed El Khaloui and Al Dhafra agree another 4 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The Ibrahim Bayesh question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrahim Bayesh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

39 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 66 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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.

Squad

Zackariah Mohammed signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Zackariah Mohammed commits to Al Dhafra for another 4 years.

Market

Jobson linked with a move away

The name of Jobson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Khalil Ibrahim

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

38 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 74 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Abdulla Al-Karbi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Abdulla Idrees out for 37 days

The medical room confirms 37 days on the sidelines for Abdulla Idrees, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Amjad Al-Sayed gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

Karim El Berkaoui linked with a move away

The name of Karim El Berkaoui keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

37 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 82 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

Zackariah Mohammed gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

The Sory Kaba question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sory Kaba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Rostand Djooh knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Al Dhafra, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The clock does Abdulla Al-Karbi’s negotiating for him

3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al Dhafra could ask drops and the wages Abdulla Al-Karbi can ask rise.

Market

Abderahmane Soussi joins Djurgarden on loan for regular minutes

Djurgarden did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Abderahmane Soussi that is worth more than another season of watching from Al Dhafra's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.

Squad

Sultan Al-Zaabi is not doing himself any favours

A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.

In brief

36 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

89 days out for Khalid Bawazir after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Dhafra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Terms done: Abderahmane Soussi is going

Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Djurgarden waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.

The dugout

Amjad Al-Sayed says Al Dhafra went back on their word

“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.

Market

Feras Saleh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Ibrahim Bayesh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Al Dhafra take the armband off Karim El Berkaoui

It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.

Market

Al Dhafra and Abdulla Al-Karbi are talking past each other

“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

35 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Amjad Al-Sayed out for 20 days

20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Dhafra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 97 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Sory Kaba

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al Dhafra will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Market

Abderahmane Soussi attracts admirers

The name of Abderahmane Soussi has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

Abdulla Al-Karbi gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

34 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amjad Al-Sayed

27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Dhafra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

106 days out for Khalid Bawazir after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Dhafra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Abdulla Al-Karbi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Al Dhafra lose Abdulla Idrees

68 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.

Boardroom

Al Dhafra to lose Abdulla Al-Karbi for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdulla Al-Karbi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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.

Market

Karim El Berkaoui linked with a move away

The name of Karim El Berkaoui keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al Dhafra say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Abdulla Al-Karbi 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.

Match

Al Dhafra have something to play for

Position 6 on 43 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.

In brief

33 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed damages knee ligaments — 34 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 113 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

The dugout

Abderahmane Soussi: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The Sory Kaba question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sory Kaba’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

32 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed damages knee ligaments — 43 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 121 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

The dugout

Hasan Al-Muharrami: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Feras Saleh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karim El Berkaoui commits to Al Dhafra for another 3 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Market

Mahmoud Mabkhout steps up from the Al Dhafra academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mahmoud Mabkhout 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.

Market

Sultan Ismail steps up from the Al Dhafra academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sultan 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Zackariah Mohammed

“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.

In brief

31 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Amer Al Kamali out for 14 days

14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Dhafra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A fracture rules Khalid Bawazir out for 129 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al Dhafra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Bayesh

Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

The season ends: position 6 for Al Dhafra

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 43 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.37 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Al Dhafra see off Al Fujairah

Three points for Al Dhafra, 2‑0 the final word against Al Fujairah in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Karim El Berkaoui

Marked 8.27 — 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 dugout

No hiding place for Mohamed El Khaloui

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed El Khaloui, and the manager let it.

In brief

30 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amer Al Kamali

21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Dhafra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 136 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 136 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Bayesh

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.34 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Al Wasl take the points off Al Dhafra

Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

No hiding place for Amjad Al-Sayed

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amjad Al-Sayed, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Khalid Suqrat to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Amjad Al-Sayed dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

In brief

29 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Amer Al Kamali

31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al Dhafra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

143 days out for Khalid Bawazir after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al Dhafra will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

A 3-goal lead gone for Al Dhafra

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al Nasr kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al Dhafra will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Squad

Arielson takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Arielson

Marked 9.56 — 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 dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim Bayesh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Bayesh, and the manager let it.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Arielson

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.

Player ratings

Karim El Berkaoui was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.30. 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.

In brief

28 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Amer Al Kamali out for 38 days

38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al Dhafra lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Khalid Bawazir breaks a bone — 151 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 151 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 32. 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.

Squad

Sory Kaba is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.51 with 20 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Sepahan for Abderahmane Soussi 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.

Squad

6 saves: Szymon Weirauch was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Market

Feras Saleh is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Al Dhafra is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

One of our own: Mohamed Al Junaibi joins the Al Dhafra first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mohamed Al Junaibi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Match

Al Dhafra get the job done against Al Ahli

A 1‑0 win over Al Ahli, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

In brief

27 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Nowhere to hide for Al Dhafra

0‑6 against Al Ain, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Al Shabab for Karim El Berkaoui 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.

Boardroom

Al Dhafra close the window on a squad of their own making

4 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al Dhafra and Al Ain in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Match

3 matches without a goal for Al Dhafra

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.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra rebuffed over Saeed Rashid

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Dhafra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Feras Saleh attracts admirers

The name of Feras Saleh has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

26 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Al Dhafra

A 0‑3 beating by Dibba was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Arielson says no to Wadi Degla

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Arielson had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Market

Abderahmane Soussi attracts admirers

The name of Abderahmane Soussi has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Boardroom

Feras Saleh has agreed to leave Al Dhafra for nothing

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.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

San Lorenzo tell Al Dhafra: Lautaro Cueli is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.22 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

No place for Abderahmane Soussi in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abderahmane Soussi has his answer from Al Dhafra; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Player ratings

Khalid Bawazir was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 17. 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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 49. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Al Jazira come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Al Dhafra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui is carrying Al Dhafra

12 goals and a season average of 7.33. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Fahad Al-Dhanhani

Al Dhafra asked and Baniyas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Wadi Degla watching Arielson

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al Dhafra have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Rostand Djooh 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 dugout

No hiding place for Abderahmane Soussi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abderahmane Soussi, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Abdulla Idrees stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Al Dhafra support went home talking about one name.

In brief

24 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Al Dhafra tear Emirates Club apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Emirates Club, and it could have been more.

Squad

Sory Kaba is carrying Al Dhafra

20 goals and a season average of 7.57. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Sory Kaba takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Al Wahda for Abderahmane Soussi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Bayesh

Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Luiz Turatto at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luiz Turatto is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Player ratings

One of those days for Sory Kaba

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 10.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra rebuffed over Nikos Grammatikakis

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Volos NPS have kept their man, and Al Dhafra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

23 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Al Dhafra let it slip despite Sory Kaba

Sory Kaba had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Al Shabab were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Player ratings

Sory Kaba scores twice — 9.09

Two goals and a mark of 9.09 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Al Jazira come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Al Dhafra did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Sory Kaba is carrying Al Dhafra

17 goals and a season average of 7.49. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

The season belongs to Ibrahim Bayesh

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Al Dhafra have had the benefit of it.

Transfer targets

Hasan Al-Muharrami due for a Al Dhafra medical

Everything agreed with Baniyas, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Jobson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Sory Kaba reaches 100 goals

100 goals for the club, every one of them filed away in the memory of a supporter somewhere.

In brief

22 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

10 saves: Amjad Al-Sayed was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Bayesh

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim Bayesh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Bayesh, and the manager let it.

Match

Al Dhafra come up short against Al Jazira

Al Jazira left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.25 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Khalid Suqrat answers for it

“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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 93% of everything Al Dhafra 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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Sultan Al-Zaabi: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Mohamed El Khaloui beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Sory Kaba is carrying Al Dhafra

15 goals and a season average of 7.45. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Match

Al Dhafra get the job done against Sharjah

A 1‑0 win over Sharjah, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Sory Kaba was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.03. 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Abdulla Al-Karbi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulla Al-Karbi, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Rostand Djooh

Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

The dugout

Khalid Suqrat: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.

In brief

20 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Al Dhafra throw away a 2-goal lead

2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Baniyas the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al Dhafra will enjoy reviewing.

Player ratings

Both of them Sory Kaba's — 8.76

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Sory Kaba is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.43 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Rostand Djooh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

Karim El Berkaoui in the eights

A performance of 8.79 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Market

One of our own: Saeed Suqrat joins the Al Dhafra first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saeed Suqrat is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Match

Al Dhafra make home a hard place to visit

8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

The dugout

No hiding place for Serafim

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Serafim, and the manager let it.

Match

Honours even between Al Dhafra and Baniyas

3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

19 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Al Dhafra win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 94th minute. Al Shaab will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Amjad Al-Sayed

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.

Match

Al Dhafra are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 27 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Match

Nobody wants to play Al Dhafra right now

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.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Sory Kaba

12 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Sory Kaba sends Al Dhafra past Al Shaab

It finished 2‑1, and it was Sory Kaba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Dhafra.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Mohamed El Khaloui

Marked 8.18 — 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

18 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Jobson's — 8.36

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Al Dhafra find a way past Al Fujairah

Al Fujairah made Al Dhafra work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Ibrahim Bayesh

10 goals and a season average of 7.25 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Karim El Berkaoui

Marked 8.30 — 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Ibrahim Bayesh

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

The half-term report on Al Dhafra

Position 5, 24 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.

Player ratings

Khalid Bawazir was unplayable

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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 98% of everything Al Dhafra 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.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • Squad Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work
  • Market Karim El Berkaoui linked with a move away
17 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Sory Kaba

11 goals and a season average of 7.37 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Al Dhafra find a way past Al Wasl

Al Wasl made Al Dhafra work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ibrahim Bayesh at his very best

Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al Dhafra.

Player ratings

Sory Kaba was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.01. 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.

The dugout

Khalid Suqrat: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

Player ratings

Mohamed El Khaloui beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

The Ibrahim Bayesh question follows Al Dhafra around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ibrahim Bayesh’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Marcelinho left out for tactical reasons at Al Dhafra

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

16 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Arielson: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Sory Kaba 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.

Match

Al Dhafra come up short against Al Nasr

Al Nasr left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Amjad Al-Sayed

“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.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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 ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.10. 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.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Khalid Suqrat left the room before anybody could ask which.

Market

The Sory Kaba talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al Dhafra know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

Looking ahead

A reunion for Khalid Bawazir

He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Al Wasl in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.

In brief

15 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Sory Kaba scores twice — 9.52

Two goals and a mark of 9.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Both of them Karim El Berkaoui's — 9.48

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.48, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ibrahim Bayesh

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Mahmoud Ismail: 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.” Al Dhafra have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Sory Kaba 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Sory Kaba

10 goals and a season average of 7.36 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Al Dhafra promote Mohamed Nader from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mohamed Nader 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.

Market

Fahad Al Hammadi steps up from the Al Dhafra academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Fahad Al Hammadi 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.

Squad

100 appearances for Ezeckiel Noumonvi

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

In brief

14 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed stands alone

8 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.

Squad

Jobson 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Al Dhafra come up short against Al Ain

Al Ain left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Sory Kaba is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.26 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rostand Djooh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rostand Djooh, and the manager let it.

Boardroom

Wages eat 98% of everything Al Dhafra 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.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Khalid Suqrat to a room that had heard them before.

Squad

Ibrahim Bayesh makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 14. 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.

In brief

13 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Al Dhafra

Dibba will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al Dhafra were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

A brace, and Sory Kaba takes the afternoon — 9.44

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sory Kaba provided it, and the 9.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Both of them Ibrahim Bayesh's — 8.43

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Al Dhafra up to position 3

17 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Match

Nobody wants to play Al Dhafra right now

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.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Ezeckiel Noumonvi

At 23 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.

Match

Dibba blown away early

There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Dibba tried to reorganise, Al Dhafra did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.

Player ratings

Karim El Berkaoui in the eights

A performance of 8.42 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Looking ahead

Top-of-the-table clash for Al Dhafra

Al Ain next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.

In brief

12 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Al Dhafra win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Al Wahda will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Mazin Saleh at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mazin Saleh is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Match

Ibrahim Bayesh the difference as Al Dhafra beat Al Wahda

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Bayesh. 2‑1 against Al Wahda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The terraces

Al Dhafra supporters have found a favourite in Abderahmane Soussi

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Abderahmane Soussi 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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Ibrahim Bayesh

Marked 8.17 — 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 dugout

Khalid Suqrat: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Marcelinho

“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 ratings

Karim El Berkaoui beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

11 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Ibrahim Bayesh leads the rout of Emirates Club

6‑1, and Ibrahim Bayesh took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al Dhafra tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

The small margins put Al Dhafra out

Out, 0‑1 to Sharjah, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.

Player ratings

Both of them Ibrahim Bayesh's — 8.37

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.37, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Marcelinho

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Rostand Djooh pops up at the right end — 7.89

7.89, 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.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Jobson delivers — 7.98

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jobson scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Jobson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Abdulla Al-Hosani

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Match

7 goals as Al Dhafra and Emirates Club go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al Dhafra and Emirates Club, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

In brief

10 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Al Dhafra

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Al Shabab kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Al Dhafra will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Amjad Al-Sayed

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.

Squad

Jobson 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Real improvement from Ibrahim Al-Hosani at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahim Al-Hosani is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Player ratings

One of those days for Sory Kaba

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Amjad Al-Sayed

“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.

Boardroom

128% of the income goes out in wages at Al Dhafra

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 ratings

One of those days for Ibrahim Bayesh

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

9 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The step up is real for Arielson

At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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 ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

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.

Match

Sory Kaba the difference as Al Dhafra beat Al Jazira

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sory Kaba. 2‑1 against Al Jazira, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

No hiding place for Ibrahim Bayesh

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Bayesh, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Sory Kaba was the difference for Al Dhafra

Marked 7.93. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Al Dhafra

7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Khalid Suqrat, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yousef Al-Mansoοri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

8 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 51. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Al Dhafra turn down Al Jazira for Abderahmane Soussi

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

Jobson goes up and wins it — 7.90

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 7.90 for the rest of it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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.

Squad

Real improvement from Mazin Saleh at Al Dhafra

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mazin Saleh is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Match

Jobson sends Al Dhafra past Sharjah

It finished 2‑0, and it was Jobson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Al Dhafra.

The dugout

No hiding place for Abderahmane Soussi

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abderahmane Soussi, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Sory Kaba

A mark of 7.97, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

The dugout

Khalid Suqrat has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Khalid Suqrat on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

7 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Both of them Karim El Berkaoui's — 8.72

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 ratings

Jobson goes up and wins it — 7.95

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 7.95 for the rest of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Jobson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Abdulla Al-Hosani

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Match

Karim El Berkaoui among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Karim El Berkaoui on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Dhafra and Baniyas.

Market

Mohamed Al Junaibi steps up from the Al Dhafra academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mohamed Al Junaibi 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.

Market

One of our own: Nasser Omar joins the Al Dhafra first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nasser Omar is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Squad

Words at Al Dhafra training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rostand Djooh 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.

In brief

6 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Ibrahim Bayesh was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 37. 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.

Market

Abderahmane Soussi turns Malavan down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Vitor asks to leave Al Dhafra

“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.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 13 signed and 3 gone

That is the business done at Al Dhafra until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Match

Al Dhafra come up short against Al Shaab

Al Shaab left with the points after a 3‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Match

Sory Kaba among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Sory Kaba on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al Dhafra and Al Shaab.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra rebuffed over Mattia Ciancaglini

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almagro have kept their man, and Al Dhafra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Rostand Djooh 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 ratings

Sory Kaba in the eights

A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

5 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Feras Saleh asks to leave Al Dhafra

“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.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Mees Eppink rejects the move

Al Dhafra had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Utrecht, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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.

Transfer targets

Al Shabab tell Al Dhafra: Fahad Hassan is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra try to borrow Mattia Ciancaglini

Almagro 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.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Al Dhafra

6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief

4 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Al-Ra'ed for Khalid Bawazir 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.

Market

Zé Welinton puts it in writing

“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 Dhafra, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Sharjah join the queue for Abderahmane Soussi

Add another name to the list: Sharjah have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abderahmane Soussi. The answer from Al Dhafra has not changed — yet.

Transfer targets

Mees Eppink is a medical away from Al Dhafra

The deal with Utrecht is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.

Squad

Words exchanged at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra rebuffed over Saeed Rashid

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Dhafra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

3 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Baniyas for Ezeckiel Noumonvi 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Al Dhafra

Jobson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra rebuffed over Mahmoud Ismail

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al Shaab have kept their man, and Al Dhafra go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Ibrahim Bayesh

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Squad

Yousef Al-Mansoοri 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 dugout

Rostand Djooh 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 Rostand Djooh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

2 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al Dhafra say no — this time

The offer from Sharjah for Abderahmane Soussi 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.

Squad

Amjad Al-Sayed out for 36 days

The medical room confirms 36 days on the sidelines for Amjad Al-Sayed, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Tempers go at Al Dhafra

Jobson 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.

Market

Khalid Bawazir attracts admirers

The name of Khalid Bawazir has come up in conversations Al Dhafra were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Market

Al Dhafra promote Ahmed Al Hammadi from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ahmed Al Hammadi 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.

Market

Al Dhafra promote Sultan Obaid from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sultan Obaid 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.

Transfer targets

Al Dhafra try to borrow Mahmoud Ismail

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.

The dugout

Ibrahim Bayesh 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.

Squad

Sory Kaba remains an outsider

A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Al Dhafra would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

1 Edition

The Al Dhafra Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Karim El Berkaoui signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karim El Berkaoui and Al Dhafra agree another 2 years.

Squad

Jobson 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 Dhafra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Al Dhafra

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rostand Djooh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

The clock runs on Jobson's contract

36 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.

Market

Talks stall between Al Dhafra and Amjad Al-Sayed

“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Gabriel Słonina is in the works

Al Dhafra have made the call to Chelsea. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief