Al-Qadisiyah U20

22 Feb 2027
Monday
Process
29 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Nahitan Nández raises the bar for Al-Qadisiyah

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Qadisiyah heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahitan Nández is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Koen Casteels has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Al-Qadisiyah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

No hiding place for Ahmed Al-Kassar

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

Market

The Christopher Bonsu Baah story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Bonsu Baah signs something — a contract at Al-Qadisiyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

Back issues
28 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Mateo Retegui is carrying Al-Qadisiyah

45 goals and a season average of 7.90. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

No mercy from Al-Qadisiyah

Al-Khaleej will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Qadisiyah were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

3 goals for Mateo Retegui

The match ball belongs to Mateo Retegui, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Qadisiyah have 4 straight wins of it.

Market

Mateo Retegui wants more than Al-Qadisiyah are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Market

Al-Ahli come back empty-handed

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

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Dionicio Escalante was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Krasnodar expected to open talks for Julian Weigl

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Al-Qadisiyah will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

In brief

27 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Al-Qadisiyah win it in stoppage time

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

Market

Otávio 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-Qadisiyah can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Julian Weigl delivers — 7.98

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

Market

Tijjani Reijnders raises the bar for Al-Qadisiyah

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Qadisiyah heard it as anything else.

Market

Krasnodar join the queue for Julian Weigl

Add another name to the list: Krasnodar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julian Weigl. The answer from Al-Qadisiyah has not changed — yet.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Qadisiyah have 3 straight wins of it.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make home a hard place to visit

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

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

26 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Mateo Retegui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.86 with 42 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah tear Najran apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Najran, and it could have been more.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah up to position 2

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

Market

Julian Weigl asks to leave Al-Qadisiyah

“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.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mateo Retegui takes the afternoon — 8.79

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Retegui provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Al-Qadisiyah

The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Julian Weigl 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Nahitan Nández falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

One of those days for Julian Weigl

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

25 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Retegui

40 goals and a season average of 7.83 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Mateo Retegui leads the rout of Al-Ahli

3‑0, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Qadisiyah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mateo Retegui takes the afternoon — 9.03

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Retegui provided it, and the 9.03 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Whatever happens, Al-Qadisiyah do not lose

8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Market

Al-Nassr are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Al-Qadisiyah will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make home a hard place to visit

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

Player ratings

One of those days for Julian Weigl

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

24 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Newcastle United join the queue for Mateo Retegui

Add another name to the list: Newcastle United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mateo Retegui. The answer from Al-Qadisiyah has not changed — yet.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Julian Weigl delivers — 7.83

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Julian Weigl scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Anas Al-Ahmadi keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Qadisiyah may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Al-Qadisiyah say no — this time

The offer from Al-Ahli for Ali Hazazi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Koen Casteels was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

7 unbeaten for Al-Qadisiyah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Al-Qadisiyah did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

The Julian Weigl conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Crvena Zvezda will make the call about Julian Weigl this week. Al-Qadisiyah have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Match

Nobody wins at Al-Qadisiyah

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

In brief

23 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Retegui

38 goals and a season average of 7.82 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

6 goals for Mateo Retegui

The match ball belongs to Mateo Retegui, whose 6 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Mateo Retegui leads the rout of Al-Wehda

6‑0, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Qadisiyah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Al-Qadisiyah turn down Al-Nassr for Turki Al-Ammar

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

Match

Al-Qadisiyah cannot stop winning

6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

The season belongs to Mateo Retegui

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

Market

Julian Weigl attracts admirers

The name of Julian Weigl has come up in conversations Al-Qadisiyah were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

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

In brief

22 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Mateo Retegui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.74 with 32 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

No mercy from Al-Qadisiyah

Al-Shabab will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Qadisiyah were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 46 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Mateo Retegui takes the match ball home

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

Match

Al-Qadisiyah cannot stop winning

5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Koen Casteels was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Mateo Retegui at his very best

Marked 9.53. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Qadisiyah.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Turki Al-Ammar

Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

21 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Retegui

29 goals and a season average of 7.67 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Mateo Retegui leads the rout of Hajer

4‑1, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Qadisiyah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Squad

A day Mateo Retegui will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Nobody wants to play Al-Qadisiyah right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Market

Mateo Retegui wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Qadisiyah hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Al-Qadisiyah may not be able to give Tijjani Reijnders what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tijjani Reijnders wants continental football; whether Al-Qadisiyah can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

The Al-Qadisiyah dressing room has split into 5 groups

Squads form friendships and that is healthy; this is not that. 5 separate groups, 4 players belonging to none of them, and a set of tables at lunch that have stopped rearranging themselves. It very rarely fixes itself.

Player ratings

The pass was always on for Christopher Bonsu Baah

Chances created: 14. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.

In brief

20 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Mateo Retegui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.59 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mateo Retegui takes the afternoon — 8.88

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Retegui provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Market

Julian Weigl wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Number 100 for Mateo Retegui

100 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.

Match

Mateo Retegui sends Al-Qadisiyah past Al-Fateh

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

Squad

Nahitan Nández falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

No hiding place for Dionicio Escalante

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

Market

Turki Al-Ammar linked with a move away

The name of Turki Al-Ammar keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Qadisiyah say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

19 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Al-Qadisiyah

Al-Faisaly will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Al-Qadisiyah were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mateo Retegui

24 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A day Mateo Retegui will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Christopher Bonsu Baah at 21 — 8.22

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christopher Bonsu Baah did not need any: 8.22, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Al-Qadisiyah may not be able to give Nahitan Nández what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Nahitan Nández wants continental football; whether Al-Qadisiyah can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Christopher Bonsu Baah is the real thing at 21

A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Al-Qadisiyah know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Mateo Retegui at his very best

Marked 9.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Qadisiyah.

Boardroom

373% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Qadisiyah

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.

In brief

18 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Al-Qadisiyah are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 34 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Player ratings

Christopher Bonsu Baah runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Koen Casteels was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Otávio wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah get the job done against Al-Hilal

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

Player ratings

One of those days for Julian Weigl

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Al-Qadisiyah pick somebody else ahead of Dionicio Escalante

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Ahmed Al-Kassar

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

17 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

Otávio 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-Qadisiyah can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

The goals have deserted Al-Qadisiyah

3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Al-Qadisiyah can tell you which week it ends in.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahitan Nández 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.

Match

Al-Ittihad take the points off Al-Qadisiyah

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mohammed Al-Qahtani

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Koen Casteels has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Al-Qadisiyah will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante dropped after a run of poor form

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

Market

The Christopher Bonsu Baah story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Bonsu Baah signs something — a contract at Al-Qadisiyah or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

16 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The cup run ends for Al-Qadisiyah

0‑0 against Al-Ettifaq, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

Koen Casteels is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Koen Casteels: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Squad

Fernando Formoso says Al-Qadisiyah went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mohammed Al-Qahtani

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

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Koen Casteels was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Nahitan Nández wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Qadisiyah hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

6 unbeaten for Al-Qadisiyah

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Al-Qadisiyah did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Waleed Al-Ahmad misses from twelve yards

It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.

In brief

15 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Christopher Bonsu Baah runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mateo Retegui takes the afternoon — 9.42

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Retegui provided it, and the 9.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Mateo Retegui is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.46 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Abdullah Al-Salem yet — 8.03

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.03 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Market

Tijjani Reijnders wants more than Al-Qadisiyah are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah get the job done against Al-Khaleej

A 3‑1 win over Al-Khaleej, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Boardroom

383% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Qadisiyah

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.

In brief

14 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Christopher Bonsu Baah runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 59. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah refuse to drop out of the race

Position 2, 27 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Market

Julian Weigl puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Qadisiyah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Mateo Retegui wants more than Al-Qadisiyah are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Dionicio Escalante 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.

Loan watch

Meshari Sunyur counts the days

“I watch every Al-Qadisiyah game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Malavan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julián Quiñones is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

The month belongs to Mateo Retegui

The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Al-Qadisiyah have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.

Boardroom

Al-Qadisiyah release $3.4M for the manager

The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.

In brief

13 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Al-Qadisiyah tear Najran apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑0 against Najran, and it could have been more.

Market

Otávio 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-Qadisiyah can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

A day Mateo Retegui will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

A brace, and Julian Weigl takes the afternoon — 8.19

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Julian Weigl provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Mateo Retegui is carrying Al-Qadisiyah

19 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Abdullah Al-Salem yet — 7.83

At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

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

Player ratings

One of those days for Mateo Retegui

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.82, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

12 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Tijjani Reijnders wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah keep winning on the road

4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Fernando Formoso

At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Match

Mohammed Al-Qahtani the difference as Al-Qadisiyah beat Al-Ahli

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammed Al-Qahtani. 1‑0 against Al-Ahli, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Nabil Jaadi 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Mohammed Al-Qahtani stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.93 on the card, and the Al-Qadisiyah support went home talking about one name.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Ali Hazazi

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Nabil Jaadi dropped after a run of poor form

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

In brief

11 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Mohammed Al-Qahtani

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

Squad

Julián Quiñones 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

465% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Qadisiyah

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.

Match

Another one collected away from home

3 on the bounce on the road for Al-Qadisiyah. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah come up short against Al-Nassr

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

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Souffian El Karouani is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Musab Al-Juwayr

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante dropped after a run of poor form

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

Market

The Turki Al-Ammar talk will not go away

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

In brief

10 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

Mateo Retegui takes the match ball home

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

Match

Al-Qadisiyah run riot against Al-Wehda

11‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah are in among the leaders

Position 2 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Market

Julian Weigl asks to leave Al-Qadisiyah

“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.

Match

Nobody wants to play Al-Qadisiyah right now

6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Christopher Bonsu Baah, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10

A mark of 8.10 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Koen Casteels was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Mateo Retegui is carrying Al-Qadisiyah

16 goals and a season average of 7.25. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Nahitan Nández wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

In brief

9 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Mateo Retegui leads the rout of Al-Shabab

3‑0, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Al-Qadisiyah tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Mateo Retegui scores twice — 9.12

Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Otávio asks to leave Al-Qadisiyah

“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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make it 5 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Qadisiyah have 5 straight wins of it.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Julian Weigl at his very best

Marked 8.06. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Qadisiyah.

Squad

7 new faces, and Al-Qadisiyah 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.

Player ratings

Christopher Bonsu Baah runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

In brief

8 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Al-Qadisiyah run riot against Hajer

5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

3 goals for Mateo Retegui

The match ball belongs to Mateo Retegui, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Player ratings

Both of them Christopher Bonsu Baah's — 8.21

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Qadisiyah have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Mateo Retegui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Market

Nahitan Nández wants more than Al-Qadisiyah are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Match

Mateo Retegui among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Mateo Retegui on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Qadisiyah and Hajer.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Mateo Retegui at his very best

Marked 9.82. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Qadisiyah.

The terraces

Al-Qadisiyah supporters have found a favourite in Christopher Bonsu Baah

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Christopher Bonsu Baah has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

In brief

7 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cup progress for Al-Qadisiyah

A 2‑0 win over Al-Fayha, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Mohammed Al-Qahtani runs at them all day

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

Player ratings

Chefe, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 8.23

A mark of 8.23 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Player ratings

Musab Al-Juwayr goes up and wins it — 7.73

A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.

Squad

Nacho pulls a muscle — 14 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

Market

Mateo Retegui raises the bar for Al-Qadisiyah

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Qadisiyah heard it as anything else.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

6 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Mohammed Al-Qahtani runs at them all day

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

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Julian Weigl delivers — 7.93

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Julian Weigl scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah get the job done against Al-Faisaly

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

Squad

Ahmed Al-Kassar out for 42 days

The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Ahmed Al-Kassar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Squad

Christopher Bonsu Baah named in the team of the month

A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Christopher Bonsu Baah is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

5 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Mohammed Qasem puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Al-Qadisiyah, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Julián Quiñones falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Turki Al-Ammar runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Al-Qadisiyah

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.

Market

Al-Saudi Al-Watani are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Al-Qadisiyah will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

In brief

4 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ali Hazazi asks to leave Al-Qadisiyah

“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.

Market

Tijjani Reijnders wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Julián Quiñones was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mateo Retegui

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.05, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Mateo Retegui rescues a point for Al-Qadisiyah

It needed Mateo Retegui to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Al-Ittihad, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

In brief

3 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Turki Al-Ammar scores twice — 8.07

Two goals and a mark of 8.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Al-Qadisiyah turn down CSKA Moscow for Julián Quiñones

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

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Christopher Bonsu Baah at 21 — 7.96

The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Christopher Bonsu Baah did not need any: 7.96, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Al-Qadisiyah training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tijjani Reijnders 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.

Match

Al-Qadisiyah get the job done against Al-Ra'ed

A 3‑1 win over Al-Ra'ed, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Christopher Bonsu Baah

At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Mateo Retegui

Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

Dionicio Escalante dropped after a run of poor form

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

In brief

2 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Najran come back empty-handed

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

Market

Mateo Retegui raises the bar for Al-Qadisiyah

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Al-Qadisiyah heard it as anything else.

Market

CSKA Moscow join the queue for Julián Quiñones

Add another name to the list: CSKA Moscow have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Julián Quiñones. The answer from Al-Qadisiyah has not changed — yet.

Market

Haitham Asiri moves on

Al-Faisaly pay $1.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Koen Casteels 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-Qadisiyah this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ahmed Al-Kassar out for 71 days

The medical room confirms 71 days on the sidelines for Ahmed Al-Kassar, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

In brief

1 Edition

The Al-Qadisiyah Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Al-Qadisiyah turn down Persepolis for Otávio

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

Market

Tijjani Reijnders wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Al-Qadisiyah hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Nacho signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nacho commits to Al-Qadisiyah for another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Al-Qadisiyah

Mateo Retegui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Tijjani Reijnders falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

24 months and counting on Koen Casteels

Still no offer on the table, and Koen Casteels’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.

In brief