From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Lars Veldwijk, 36, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Nahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lars Veldwijk and Al-Nahda agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Oct 2027
At last: Al-Nahda win one
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Al-Njoom. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match2 Oct 2027
Al-Njoom made Al-Nahda work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Wages swallow 127% of the Al-Nahda income
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 ratings4 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
No hiding place for Yassin Hamzah
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The dugout
Ayel Haqawi dropped after a run of poor form
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market27 Sep 2027
“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.
Match25 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Match25 Sep 2027
The goals have deserted Al-Nahda
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Nahda can tell you which week it ends in.
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Al-Riyadh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Gerald Diyoke
“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 ratings27 Sep 2027
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.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Nahda told Ahmed Bahusayn something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
Waleed Al-Khaibari damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Match15 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Al-Nahda
0‑3 against Al-Taawoun, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
A cup embarrassment at Al-Taawoun follows Al-Nahda home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Market20 Sep 2027
“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.
Match18 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Nahda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Awad Dahal, and the manager let it.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Sep 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Nahda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Nahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdullah Al-Bishi is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“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 ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 7.74. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match11 Sep 2027
Al-Nahda and Ohod 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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Abdullah Al-Otaibi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bright Ethaghara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces6 Sep 2027
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad6 Sep 2027
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Al-Nahda 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
At 19 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.
Market6 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Abdulla Mohamed reports back to Al-Nahda with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kolawole Sheriff and Al-Nahda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Wages eat 114% of everything Al-Nahda 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Aug 2027
Waleed Al-Khaibari damages knee ligaments — 39 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
“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.
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Al-Nahda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets30 Aug 2027
Al-Riyadh wanted more than $10.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Match28 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Zakaria Ami 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.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Aug 2027
0‑3 to Al-Fayha, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Aug 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Al-Njoom moved on, Phiwokuhle Mjolo reports back to Al-Nahda, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Market23 Aug 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Al-Nahda have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad23 Aug 2027
37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Gerald Diyoke ran the middle of the pitch — 6.82
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.82, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Awad Dahal, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Nobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Al-Nahda people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market16 Aug 2027
Yassin Hamzah hands in a written request
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Al-Nahda
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.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Ohod said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Al-Nahda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Aziz Al-Fawaz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Aug 2027
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market9 Aug 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Nassr keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
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 dugout9 Aug 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Nahda told Kolawole Sheriff something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad9 Aug 2027
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Nahda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“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 dugout9 Aug 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rayan Al-Sharekh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Aug 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Nahda
Position 16 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Abdullah Al-Otaibi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The Al-Nahda board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets2 Aug 2027
Al-Nahda offered $10.0K; Al-Riyadh 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.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Ahli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Nahda know which stage they are at.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Al-Taawoun, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets26 Jul 2027
The offer went to Al-Riyadh this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Aziz Al-Fawaz 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Al-Nahda
8 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Yassin Hamzah has his answer from Al-Nahda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market26 Jul 2027
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Nahda could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Al-Nahda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market19 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Al-Nahda
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Al-Musallam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Musallam, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Al-Taawoun: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
A loan move for Faris Al-Ghamdi is in the works
Al-Nahda have made the call to Al-Ettifaq. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Nahda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Anger at Al-Nahda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Nassr is saying, and nobody at Al-Nahda is enjoying the guessing.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Al-Nahda have gone to Al-Wehda with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Al-Nahda offered $22.0K; Al-Wehda 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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
Wages swallow 110% of the Al-Nahda income
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 dugout12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Faris Al-Zubaidi, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jul 2027
Al-Nahda are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Crisis meeting at Al-Nahda
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Nahda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Al-Nahda and Al-Nassr have settled on $530.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad5 Jul 2027
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets5 Jul 2027
Al-Mojzel wanted more than $62.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Aziz Al-Fawaz 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
Crisis
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Al-Nassr wanted more than $550.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets28 Jun 2027
$62.0K on the table at Al-Mojzel. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Al-Nahda have gone to Al-Riyadh with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Hassan Al-Musallam 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.
Market28 Jun 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Rayan Al-Sharekh has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Nahda.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 36, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout28 Jun 2027
“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
Crisis
Boardroom21 Jun 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Nahda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Nahda is running low.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Al-Nassr this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market21 Jun 2027
The fee is $160.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Najran drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad21 Jun 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The offer went to Al-Wehda this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Hazem 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 dugout21 Jun 2027
“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
Crisis
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Anger at Al-Nahda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Najran, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Jun 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Nassr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Al-Musallam 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lars Veldwijk, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Jun 2027
Wages eat 136% of everything Al-Nahda 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jun 2027
Al-Nahda are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Abdullah Al-Otaibi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Crisis meeting at Al-Nahda
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market7 Jun 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Nahda they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Hassan Al-Musallam 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets7 Jun 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Hazem said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Al-Musallam 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
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad31 May 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Al-Nahda are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout31 May 2027
“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-Nahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
Market31 May 2027
Al-Nahda have made Ahmed Al-Dagher available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad31 May 2027
Two hours a week with a tutor, which is the least glamorous thing at Al-Nahda and the one that decides whether a foreign signing is still here in two years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Nahda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 May 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Gerald Diyoke
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Al-Nahda will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 May 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Ahmed Al-Dagher gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ahmed Al-Dagher has just signed for Al-Nahda, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Al-Nahda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Al-Musallam 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 dugout24 May 2027
Ali Al-Abdullatif 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.
Market24 May 2027
The clock does Hassan Al-Musallam’s negotiating for him
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Al-Nahda could ask drops and the wages Hassan Al-Musallam can ask rise.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Lars Veldwijk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Nahda say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
-
The dugout
Ali Al-Eid knocks on the manager's door
-
Market
Al-Nahda shop where it costs nothing
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2027
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
Wages eat 149% of everything Al-Nahda 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Ali Al-Eid 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
17 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout17 May 2027
“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
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Al-Nahda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match10 May 2027
Al-Nahda are in real trouble now
Position 16, 15 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market10 May 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 May 2027
“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 dugout10 May 2027
“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-Nahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
The Cheick Niang story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cheick Niang signs something — a contract at Al-Nahda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad10 May 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Nahda says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bright Ethaghara
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Abdullah Al-Otaibi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Crisis meeting at Al-Nahda
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad3 May 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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 dugout3 May 2027
“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 dugout3 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rayan Al-Sharekh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 May 2027
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Murtadha Al-Burayh was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Squad3 May 2027
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Al-Nahda says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Al-Nahda were not finished after all
Written off a fortnight ago, the squad has closed ranks and answered on the pitch. Something was said behind that door, and so far it is holding.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bright Ethaghara
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Nahda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Nahda is running low.
Market26 Apr 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Awardi, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
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.
Market26 Apr 2027
The name of Lars Veldwijk keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Nahda say nothing, which says plenty.
Market26 Apr 2027
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Nahda could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Supporters organise against the Al-Nahda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Bright Ethaghara damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Nahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Apr 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Wages eat 142% of everything Al-Nahda 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Al-Nahda told Faris Al-Zubaidi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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 Lars Veldwijk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bright Ethaghara
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Apr 2027
Al-Nahda sink to position 16
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market12 Apr 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Nasser Al-Qahtani, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Ayel Haqawi 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 Ayel Haqawi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bright Ethaghara
53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Nahda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match3 Apr 2027
Nowhere to hide for Al-Nahda
1‑4 against Damac, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Apr 2027
Full time on the season at Al-Nahda
Position 16 on 15 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Nahda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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
Crisis
Boardroom29 Mar 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Nahda
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Nahda is running low.
Market29 Mar 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Murtadha Al-Burayh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“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-Nahda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ali Al-Abdullatif'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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
Damac next, and one man in the Al-Nahda dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market29 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lars Veldwijk signs something — a contract at Al-Nahda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market29 Mar 2027
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Al-Nahda could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2027
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match20 Mar 2027
The drought breaks for Al-Nahda
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al-Njoom were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Market22 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Bright Ethaghara 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2027
135% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
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.
Match20 Mar 2027
A 1‑0 win over Al-Njoom, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“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 dugout22 Mar 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Al-Nahda pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Mar 2027
Al-Nahda sink to position 16
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match13 Mar 2027
10 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Match13 Mar 2027
Chastening afternoon for Al-Nahda
A 0‑4 beating by Al-Riyadh was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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.
Match13 Mar 2027
Al-Nahda leaking at the back
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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-Nahda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
44 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Mar 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Abdullah Al-Otaibi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market8 Mar 2027
Lars Veldwijk hands in a written request
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Cheick Niang takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cheick Niang provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match6 Mar 2027
Al-Nahda leaking at the back
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lars Veldwijk and Al-Nahda agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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-Nahda are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Pressure builds in the Al-Nahda boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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.
Match27 Feb 2027
8 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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-Nahda know it.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Lars Veldwijk wants one last season at home
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Al-Nahda know now that the thought has arrived.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Feb 2027
Al-Nahda leaking at the back
5 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match27 Feb 2027
Cheick Niang scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Al-Ta'ee, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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
Crisis
The terraces22 Feb 2027
Supporters organise against the Al-Nahda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
Al-Nahda leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match20 Feb 2027
Lars Veldwijk scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al-Hazem, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Awardi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages swallow 133% of the Al-Nahda income
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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Feb 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Nahda
Position 16 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Lars Veldwijk
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lars Veldwijk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Al-Nahda the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match13 Feb 2027
6 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑2 to Al-Fayha, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Abdullah Al-Otaibi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match6 Feb 2027
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑2 to Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bright Ethaghara, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ali Al-Eid 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Abdullah Al-Otaibi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmed Al-Shamrani'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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Nahda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Al-Nahda close the window on a squad of their own making
1 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Bright Ethaghara 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Noor Al-Rashidi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Supporters organise against the Al-Nahda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad25 Jan 2027
There were 10 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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with Al-Nassr 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Al-Nahda have gone to Al-Riyadh with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Shabab have kept their man, and Al-Nahda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Musallam, and the manager let it.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages swallow 128% of the Al-Nahda income
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
Nobody on the pitch touched Cheick Niang
7.76, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al-Nahda had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jan 2027
13 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.
Match18 Jan 2027
Every point is an argument now for Al-Nahda
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match16 Jan 2027
Nowhere to hide for Al-Nahda
0‑4 against Al-Ettifaq, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets18 Jan 2027
Al-Nahda offered $17.0K; Al-Riyadh 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Nassr 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Ami, and the manager let it.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
1‑4 to Al-Shoulla, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market11 Jan 2027
Al-Riyadh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Al-Nahda did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
At 35 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.97, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets11 Jan 2027
The offer went to Al-Riyadh this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Meshal Sibyani
“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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Nobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Nahda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Lars Veldwijk, 35, rolls back the years — 8.03
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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-Nahda can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Damac have kept their man, and Al-Nahda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match2 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lars Veldwijk. 2‑1 against Ohod, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rayan Al-Sharekh, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
Supporters organise against the Al-Nahda board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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.
Squad28 Dec 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 173% of everything Al-Nahda 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Musallam, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A promise honoured at Al-Nahda
Something was said to Meshal Sibyani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Meshal Sibyani 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 4.67. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
The drought breaks for Al-Nahda
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Al-Batin were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match21 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al-Nahda
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Lars Veldwijk, 35, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Hassan Al-Musallam is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for Al-Nahda, 2‑1 the final word against Al-Batin in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Ali Al-Eid 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.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Al-Baraa Adawi
“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 dugout21 Dec 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.” Abdullah Al-Otaibi, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Dec 2026
16 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑4 to Damac, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Nahda may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Dec 2026
6 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Al-Nahda
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Nahda can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad14 Dec 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Match14 Dec 2026
Halfway: Al-Nahda sit in position 16
3 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
15 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 15, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Al-Nahda
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Al-Nahda
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Nahda can tell you which week it ends in.
Market7 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Al-Nahda, another week without a signature from Hassan Al-Musallam.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.27 on the card, and the Al-Nahda support went home talking about one name.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Lars Veldwijk loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Lars Veldwijk's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Khaled Al-Magrabi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Al-Nahda has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match28 Nov 2026
0‑4 to Al-Riyadh, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Nov 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
149% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
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.
The dugout30 Nov 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.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑5 by Al-Diriyah, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match23 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Al-Nahda
Position 16 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Lars Veldwijk 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Zakaria Ami, and the manager let it.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Abdullah Al-Otaibi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad23 Nov 2026
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Al-Nahda lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Awardi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Al-Nahda take on the side everybody is chasing
Al-Diriyah arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Market16 Nov 2026
The Cheick Niang story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cheick Niang signs something — a contract at Al-Nahda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Khaled Al-Asbahi 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Questions about Phiwokuhle Mjolo on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There were 9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Meshal Sibyani
“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.
Match7 Nov 2026
It needed Lars Veldwijk to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Ta'ee, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Abdullah Al-Otaibi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Rayan Al-Sharekh
Nobody at Al-Nahda is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
Anger at Al-Nahda spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match31 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Nahda
11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
149% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rayan Al-Sharekh, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Ali Al-Eid and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market2 Nov 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
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
10 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Oct 2026
0‑7 to Al-Fayha, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match26 Oct 2026
Al-Nahda are in real trouble now
Position 16, 0 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match24 Oct 2026
Al-Nahda are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 10 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Bright Ethaghara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Al-Nahda and Al-Fayha, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Al-Shamrani, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Nahda
9 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Al-Nahda is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Match17 Oct 2026
Al-Saudi Al-Watani left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Khaled Al-Asbahi: 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-Nahda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
19 new faces, and Al-Nahda 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Abdulla Mohamed
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lars Veldwijk signs something — a contract at Al-Nahda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Al-Nahda
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match3 Oct 2026
Al-Nahda leaking at the back
8 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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-Nahda know it.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Lars Veldwijk scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Al-Mojzel, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
166% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Nahda
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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdulaziz Al-Awardi, and the manager let it.
Market5 Oct 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Nahda
7 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lars Veldwijk 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
1‑2 to Al-Jeel, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match26 Sep 2026
Al-Nahda hit back inside 4 minutes
Al-Jeel held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Al-Nahda answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Abdullah Al-Otaibi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Al-Nahda
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Nahda are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Al-Nahda are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Al-Nahda
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahmed Al-Shamrani, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑2 Abdullah Al-Otaibi left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Al-Shoulla ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
A cup embarrassment at Al-Shoulla follows Al-Nahda home
0-3. Going out of a cup is one afternoon; going out like that is a week of phone-ins, and the manager will hear every one of them.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Al-Nahda's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Nahda has to find a result from somewhere.
Match12 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Nahda
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Yasser Al-Juhani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ali Al-Eid 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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Al-Nahda close the window on a squad of their own making
28 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Ittihad keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Bright Ethaghara 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 targets7 Sep 2026
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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Nahda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Al-Nahda will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Nahda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with Al-Ittihad 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets31 Aug 2026
Al-Nahda 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ohod left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hassan Al-Musallam, and the manager let it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Jihad Al-Zuwayid has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Al-Nahda.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Lars Veldwijk
7.71, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Al-Nahda had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Al-Hilal 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Al-Nahda asked and Al-Fateh said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Al-Orobah left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bright Ethaghara, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdullah Al-Otaibi after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑3 to Al-Batin, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Al-Nahda
Lars Veldwijk and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Muhayya Al-Sulami has his answer from Al-Nahda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ayel Haqawi
“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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Al-Nahda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Al-Nahda are still strangers to each other
18 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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 0‑3 Abdullah Al-Otaibi left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Phiwokuhle Mjolo has just signed for Al-Nahda, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Al-Ettifaq, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Lars Veldwijk 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
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cheick Niang and Al-Nahda agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bandar Al-Shehri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Turki Al-Enezi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saeed Al-Salem 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nasser Al-Qahtani 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Al-Nahda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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.” Lars Veldwijk and Al-Nahda agree another 1 years.
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-Nahda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
A stepping stone, not a home, for Rayan Al-Sharekh
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Al-Nahda were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Al-Nahda know which stage they are at.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Noor Al-Rashidi is in the works
Al-Nahda have made the call to Damac. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Meshal Sibyani is in the works
Al-Nahda have made the call to Al-Ettifaq. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.