From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match31 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Al-Riyadh the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Al-Hazem will enjoy reviewing.
Match31 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Al-Hazem did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Omar Al-Somah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.28 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bruno Varela 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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
589% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Hazem
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Bruno Varela
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bonheur Mugisha 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Al-Riyadh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Al-Hazem
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market26 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Hazem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A move Mohammad Mustafa 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. Mohammad Mustafa is living that version at Al-Hazem, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bruno Varela was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bonheur Mugisha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Al-Hazem?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Al-Diriyah? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Hazem know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match17 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem make it 11 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 11 straight wins of it.
Match17 Oct 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match17 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem are at home on the road
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad19 Oct 2026
51 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bruno Varela 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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Omar Al-Somah is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.28 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Bah 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Afimico Pululu at his very best
Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Hazem.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem make it 10 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 10 straight wins of it.
Match12 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem up to position 1
27 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Omar Al-Somah yet — 8.11
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.11 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match10 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Al-Hazem. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bruno Varela 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Three points for Al-Hazem, 2‑0 the final word against Al-Ta'ee in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bonheur Mugisha falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Afimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Al-Hazem make it 9 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 9 straight wins of it.
Match3 Oct 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Hazem scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Miguel Carvalho, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.85
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bruno Varela 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 775% of everything Al-Hazem 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Al-Fayha made Al-Hazem work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Miguel Carvalho is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Al-Hazem will try very hard not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad28 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elton Acolatse
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem make it 8 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 8 straight wins of it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Al-Saudi Al-Watani will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Hazem were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Amir Sayoud takes the afternoon — 8.15
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amir Sayoud provided it, and the 8.15 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bruno Varela 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match26 Sep 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al-Saudi Al-Watani tried to reorganise, Al-Hazem did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Elias Mokwana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elton Acolatse
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match19 Sep 2026
Al-Mojzel will want this one forgotten quickly: 7‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Hazem were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nobody wants to play Al-Hazem right now
7 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Omar Al-Somah yet — 9.88
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.88 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.21 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Amir Sayoud takes the afternoon — 8.03
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amir Sayoud provided it, and the 8.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elton Acolatse
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match9 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem march on in the cup
Al-Khaleej are out and Al-Hazem go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Sep 2026
Nobody wants to play Al-Hazem right now
6 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Afimico Pululu takes the afternoon — 8.13
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afimico Pululu provided it, and the 8.13 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Miguel Carvalho, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Omar Al-Somah, 37, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sofiane Bendebka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elton Acolatse
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Hazem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Al-Hazem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Omar Al-Somah yet — 7.80
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.80 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match5 Sep 2026
Al-Hazem make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 4 straight wins of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Al-Ettifaq, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aboubacar Bah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al-Shoulla, and it could have been more.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Afimico Pululu takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afimico Pululu provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Amir Sayoud yet — 7.81
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match29 Aug 2026
Al-Hazem make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Hazem have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Afimico Pululu 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 ratings31 Aug 2026
Elton Acolatse was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Sultan Tanker
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
6 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 10‑1 against Ohod, and it could have been more.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Omar Al-Somah yet — 10.00
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 10.00 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Elton Acolatse takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Elton Acolatse provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Hazem can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Aboubacar Bah has come up in conversations Al-Hazem were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Omar Al-Somah among the goals in a wild afternoon
11 goals in one match, Omar Al-Somah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Hazem and Ohod.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Amir Sayoud yet — 7.91
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.91 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Afimico Pululu 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 3‑1 win over Al-Orobah, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Aboubacar Bah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Al-Shehri and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Al-Hazem say no — this time
The offer from Al-Fateh for Aboubacar Bah 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Afimico Pululu 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bonheur Mugisha and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Loreintz Rosier 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Afimico Pululu and Al-Hazem agree another 4 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
Al-Jeel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Hazem did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Hazem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Bruno Varela 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Hassan Idris again, and this time the name on the line is Al-Jeel. Al-Hazem are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.