73 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.
9 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Al-Hazem asked and Al-Shabab 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 words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
The offer from Damac for Waleed Al-Shanqeeti 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Waleed Al-Shanqeeti and Al-Hazem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Rakan Kaabi 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youssouf Oumarou, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Loreintz Rosier's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Al-Hazem have made the call to Al-Shabab. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Al-Hazem will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Rayan Siddiq is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Hazem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Add another name to the list: Damac have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Waleed Al-Shanqeeti. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Waleed Al-Shanqeeti and Al-Hazem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Still no offer on the table, and Waleed Al-Shanqeeti’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
$14.2M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
He is going to MC Alger, the club has $14.2M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
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.
“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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ali Al-Masoud's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Hazem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Al-Khaleej for Elton Acolatse 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.
Damac paid $310.0K and Al-Hazem took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aboubacar Bah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
The phone has started ringing about Afimico Pululu again, and this time the name on the line is MC Alger. Al-Hazem are listening politely and promising nothing.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hassan Al-Sheikh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Faisal Al-Sheikh is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Loreintz Rosier's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Hazem know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Al-Hazem have done the hard part with Al-Ittihad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Al-Hazem than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Al-Fateh paid $600.0K and Al-Hazem took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shabab have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Al-Otaibi and Al-Hazem agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdulrahman Al-Sanbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
58 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Damac had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Fateh keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Al-Hazem asked and Al-Diriyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
The deal with Al-Ra'ed 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Njoom have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Saud Al-Rashed. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Yasser Al-Khaibari 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.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
72 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Al-Qadisiyah for Amir Sayoud 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Al-Hazem has been clear about where Aboubacar Bah stands, which is more than many ever get.
79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Hazem lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
“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.
Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel 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.
27 appearances and 4 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“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-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
86 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 77 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout24 May 2027
Ali Al-Masoud is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nader Al-Muwallad arrives at 34 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
93 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Hazem will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Bruno Varela damages knee ligaments — 100 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Al-Hazem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdullah Al-Shanqiti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
Bruno Varela damages knee ligaments — 108 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
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.
“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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Hazem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Sultan Tanker 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.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Al-Nahda suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Al-Hazem, and the summer will force it.
What was a back-page link has become a chant, and the chant is not friendly. Al-Hazem would rather it were settled quietly, and it has stopped being quiet.
“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-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bruno Varela damages knee ligaments — 115 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.
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.
Sofiane Bendebka 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Elias Mokwana is on it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Ali Al-Masoud is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“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-Hazem, and both men came out saying it was fine.
122 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.
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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdulaziz Al-Harbi has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Al-Hazem the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Bonheur Mugisha’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
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.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Al-Hazem, and 11 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Miguel Carvalho is on it.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Waleed Al-Shanqeeti provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7 goals in one match, Hazzaa Al-Ghamdi on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Hazem and Al-Batin.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Al-Hazem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Elias Mokwana is on it.
Something was said to Abdulrahman Hindi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bruno Varela signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Waleed Al-Shanqeeti’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Hazem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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.
At 36 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.
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 7.88 for the rest of it.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sofiane Bendebka provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Hazem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Sultan Tanker 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.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Al-Hazem can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Al-Hazem know it.
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.
“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 ratings1 Mar 2027
Afimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
The fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
31 goals and a season average of 7.60 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 8.84
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 8.84 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Diriyah moved on, Abdulaziz Al-Harbi reports back to Al-Hazem, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Al-Ta'ee spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Al-Hazem scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Afimico Pululu reports back to Al-Hazem with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
55 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Ethnikos Latsion have made their interest known and Al-Hazem have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
The phone has started ringing about Afimico Pululu again, and this time the name on the line is Basaksehir. Al-Hazem are listening politely and promising nothing.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Al-Hazem 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Hazem and Al-Saudi Al-Watani in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Mojzel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Elias Mokwana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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
Player ratingsAfimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.32 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Hilal have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Bonheur Mugisha 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Elton Acolatse
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Hazem people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Al-Nahda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abdulrahman Al-Dakheel. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nahda have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
46 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Hazem will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Salman Al-Hassan could afford to be generous.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 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.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Al-Orobah tried to reorganise, Al-Hazem did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Salman Al-Hassan on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ali Al-Masoud's mistake
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
Position 2, 37 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.
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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Waleed Al-Shanqeeti is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Every club 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 it has been tried.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Amir Sayoud in the middle of it, and Al-Njoom unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Al-Fateh go through and Al-Hazem go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
The stands have turned
“Enough is enough. We have watched this for months.” 7 of the 26 senior players walked off to it, and the message was not aimed at any one of them.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Something was said to Elton Acolatse and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdulhadi Al-Harajin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Hazem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Al-Hazem. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
3 goals in 9 games at Al-Saudi Al-Watani — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Al-Hazem updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
“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.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Al-Nahda, and it could have been more.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Omar Al-Somah takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omar Al-Somah provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
7.94, 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.
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.
Al-Diriyah 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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aboubacar Bah, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Salman Al-Hassan, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Miguel Carvalho did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.01 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Hussain Al-Zarie 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Salman Al-Hassan on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Something was said to Hussain Al-Zarie and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Hazem were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody at Al-Hazem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Afimico Pululu signs something — a contract at Al-Hazem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abdulhadi Al-Harajin’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Al-Hazem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Al-Saudi Al-Watani will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Hazem were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Al-Hazem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afimico Pululu 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.
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 7.72 for the rest of it.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Jeel, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑2, Salman Al-Hassan could afford to be generous.
In brief
SquadHassan Idris falls out with a teammate over standards
92 minutes played. Miguel Carvalho found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Al-Khaleej went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Miguel Carvalho, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.40
A mark of 8.40 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Talal Al-Shehri 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 first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Al-Ettifaq; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 7 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fayha have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The award goes to Omar Al-Somah, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Al-Hazem are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Elias Mokwana has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Al-Hazem and Al-Shoulla in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Al-Nahda paid $31.0K and Al-Hazem took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Ahli have kept their man, and Al-Hazem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Afimico Pululu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.64 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“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.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
Al-Hazem offered $65.0K; Al-Fayha said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
Add another name to the list: Al-Nahda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ahmed Al-Shamrani. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Ohod spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Two goals and a mark of 8.49 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $77.1K — a club that wants Abdullah Al-Joui enough to be asked twice.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Al-Hazem and Al-Orobah, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Omar Al-Somah 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.
$39.0K on the table at Al-Fayha. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hamad Al-Harbi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Salman Al-Mansour is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Waleed Al-Sultan 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nasser Al-Enezi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Idris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amir Sayoud 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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Hajer have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Majed Al-Ghamdi. The answer from Al-Hazem has not changed — yet.