3 Jan 2027
Sunday
Process
22 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Ittihad

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

Player ratings

A brace, and Mabululu takes the afternoon — 8.92

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mabululu provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Abdelrahman Magdy beats them one at a time

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

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mabululu

16 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Ittihad 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.

Squad

Giovanni 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 Ittihad

Anthony Okachi 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

Afsha in the eights

A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Suraju Lawal gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

In brief

  • Match Halfway: Ittihad sit in position 3
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Khaled Abdelfattah has become a man the manager trusts
Back issues
21 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A row about effort at Ittihad

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony 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

A bad afternoon for Ittihad against Al Ahly

0‑1 to Al Ahly, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

No hiding place for Abdelghani Mohamed

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

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Afsha

7 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout

Bassem Aboutrika: “No excuses”

“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.

Market

Youssef Nader is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ittihad has been clear about where Youssef Nader stands, which is more than many ever get.

Player ratings

Isaac Saviour beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 11. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Youssry Wahid has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ittihad 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.

In brief

20 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Zamalek punish Ittihad for switching off

2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Mabululu will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Ittihad escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.

Match

Zamalek end the Ittihad run at 15

Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 15 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.

Player ratings

Both of them Mabululu's — 8.74

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.74, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match

Ittihad refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 38 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.

The dugout

Youssef Nader: 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.” Ittihad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Mabululu is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.31 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Zamalek take the points off Ittihad

Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Isaac Saviour stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Isaac Saviour and Ittihad agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Ittihad

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

In brief

19 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abdelrahman Magdy

Successful dribbles: 34. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Ittihad are top

38 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Mabululu yet — 8.18

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

The dugout

Ahmed Eid says Ittihad 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.

Match

Nobody wants to play Ittihad right now

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

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni 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

Mabululu is carrying Ittihad

12 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Ittihad make home a hard place to visit

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

Match

Ittihad see off Arab Contractors

Three points for Ittihad, 1‑0 the final word against Arab Contractors in a contest settled by the finer margins.

In brief

18 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Still nobody has beaten Ittihad

The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Mabululu, 34, rolls back the years — 8.31

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni 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

Mohamed Tony 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 Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Mabululu the difference as Ittihad beat Ghazl El Mahalla

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mabululu. 1‑0 against Ghazl El Mahalla, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Mabululu is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.22 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The dugout

Anthony Okachi gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

Bassem Aboutrika: “That is the standard”

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

Player ratings

Abdelrahman Magdy keeps on missing

Shots: 12, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.

In brief

17 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Youssef Nader decides it from twelve yards

2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.

Match

Ittihad out of the cup

Wadi Degla ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.

Match

Whatever happens, Ittihad do not lose

13 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.

Match

Mabululu wins it after the whistle should have gone

93 minutes played. Mabululu found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and ENPPI went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

Mabululu scores twice — 8.90

Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

The dugout

Abdallah Fawzi says Ittihad 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.

Match

Ittihad find a way past ENPPI

ENPPI made Ittihad work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

A row about effort at Ittihad

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

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony 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.

In brief

  • Player ratings Afsha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
  • The dugout No hiding place for Gennesh
  • Player ratings Kaká misses from twelve yards
16 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni 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

Tempers go at Ittihad

Youssef Nader 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 dugout

No hiding place for Khaled Abdelfattah

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

Looking ahead

A reunion for Afsha

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

The dugout

Isaac Saviour has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Isaac Saviour has written the date down.

Market

Ittihad put Youssef Nader up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Youssef Nader may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

15 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ittihad are top

29 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Match

Whatever happens, Ittihad do not lose

11 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

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni 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

Words exchanged at Ittihad

Anthony Okachi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Ahmed Hamdi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout

Abdelrahman Magdy is still paying for one afternoon at Ittihad

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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Mostafa Ibrahim

“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 dugout

Giovanni knocks on the manager's door

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

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Bassem Aboutrika chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

14 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

10 unbeaten for Ittihad

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Ittihad did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Mahmoud Dunga 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

Mohamed Tony 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 Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Mabululu the difference as Ittihad beat Military Production

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mabululu. 1‑0 against Military Production, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Boardroom

$2.0M on the table at Ittihad

The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.

Player ratings

Mabululu was the difference for Ittihad

Marked 7.79. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.

Squad

5 new faces, and Ittihad 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 dugout

Bassem Aboutrika has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bassem Aboutrika on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Babatunde Bright

“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

13 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Mostafa Ibrahim says Ittihad 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.

Match

Whatever happens, Ittihad do not lose

9 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.

Match

After 8 games, Ittihad finally taste it again

The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Smouha; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Dunga 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

Alexander Jakobsen 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 Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Ahmed Hamdi in the eights

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

Player ratings

Mabululu runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

No hiding place for Gennesh

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

Match

Ittihad share the spoils with Smouha

A 1‑1 draw with Smouha leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

12 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wants to play Ittihad right now

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

The dugout

Anthony Okachi says Ittihad 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

Mabululu, 34, rolls back the years — 8.12

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

The step up is real for Adham Alaa

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Match

Ittihad find a way past Wadi Degla

Wadi Degla made Ittihad work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Player ratings

One of those days for Afsha

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.46, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

A row about effort at Ittihad

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

Player ratings

Ahmed Hamdi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

11 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Real improvement from Abdallah Fawzi at Ittihad

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

Squad

Mahmoud Dunga 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

A falling-out at Ittihad

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

Squad

Kaká signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kaká commits to Ittihad for another 1 years.

Looking ahead

Amr Saleh goes back to face Wadi Degla

Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amr Saleh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ittihad needing him to play as if none of it matters.

The dugout

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

In brief

10 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wants to play Ittihad right now

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

Player ratings

Abdelrahman Magdy beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Another one collected away from home

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

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Dunga 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

Ittihad find a way past Ismaily

Ismaily made Ittihad work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

50 goals in the shirt for Afsha

50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Afsha

Marked 8.30 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

A falling-out at Ittihad

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

Squad

14 new faces, and Ittihad 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.

In brief

9 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

A brace, and Mabululu takes the afternoon — 8.83

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mabululu provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Nobody wants to play Ittihad 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony 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

Ittihad see off Haras El Hodoud

Three points for Ittihad, 2‑0 the final word against Haras El Hodoud in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Match

Ittihad keep winning on the road

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

Squad

Isaac Saviour falls out with a teammate over standards

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

The dugout

Bassem Aboutrika: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.

The dugout

No hiding place for Bibo Ahmed Hassan

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

The dugout

Isaac Saviour 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

8 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Ittihad make it 5 in a row

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

Squad

Words exchanged at Ittihad

Mabululu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Match

Ittihad see off El Masry

Three points for Ittihad, 1‑0 the final word against El Masry in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

A row about effort at Ittihad

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

Player ratings

Afsha in the eights

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

The dugout

Bassem Aboutrika: “That is the standard”

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

The dugout

Bibo Ahmed Hassan 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.

Looking ahead

Abdo Gouda faces his old club

Haras El Hodoud next, and one man in the Ittihad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Squad

A season on the outside for Ogbu Ogechukwu

He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ittihad has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.

In brief

7 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Mabululu, 34, rolls back the years — 8.48

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.48 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Ittihad make it 4 in a row

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

Transfer targets

Too dear: Ittihad walk away from Ziad Farag

$16.0K was the most the club would pay and El Masry were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Match

Ittihad see off Aswan

Three points for Ittihad, 3‑1 the final word against Aswan in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Suraju Lawal 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

Aswan blown away early

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

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Abdelrahman Magdy at his very best

Marked 8.22. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ittihad.

Squad

Mahmoud Dunga 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

Alexander Jakobsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.05. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

6 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Window shuts: 16 in, 4 out at Ittihad

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Adham Alaa 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 Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

Ittihad go back to the board over Ziad Farag

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $17.1K — a club that wants Ziad Farag enough to be asked twice.

Transfer targets

Ittihad baulk at the price for Mahmoud El Badry

Haras El Hodoud wanted more than $33.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Mohamed Tony 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 Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Isaac Saviour 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

Ittihad are still strangers to each other

12 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.

Squad

Mahmoud Dunga named in the team of the month

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

Market

Talks stall between Ittihad and Ogbu Ogechukwu

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

In brief

5 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Nasser Nasser 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 Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Medical ends the Mohamed Hamad deal

Everything was agreed with Zamalek and then the doctor spoke. Ittihad have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.

Boardroom

Ittihad go back to the board over Mahmoud El Badry

The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $34.1K — a club that wants Mahmoud El Badry enough to be asked twice.

Match

Ittihad make it 3 in a row

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

Player ratings

Abdelrahman Magdy was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. 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.

Transfer targets

Ittihad make their move for Mahmoud El Badry

$33.0K on the table at Haras El Hodoud. 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 targets

Ittihad make their move for Ziad Farag

$13.0K on the table at El Masry. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony 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

Ittihad find a way past Al Gaish

Al Gaish made Ittihad work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

In brief

  • Squad A row about effort at Ittihad
  • Player ratings One of those days for Afsha
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
4 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

No mercy from Ittihad

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

Player ratings

A brace, and Afsha takes the afternoon — 8.40

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Afsha provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Amr Saleh 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 Ittihad can pretend not to have heard.

Player ratings

Vintage Mabululu — 8.08

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.08, and nobody on the pitch better.

Transfer targets

Omar Fayed due for a Ittihad medical

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

Transfer targets

No thanks: Percy Zungu rejects the move

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

Transfer targets

Ittihad bid $13.0K for Mohamed Hamad

The offer went to Zamalek 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.

Market

Ittihad sell Islam Samir for $370.0K

Islam Samir has left for El Dakhleya in a $370.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

Market

Ittihad sell Ahmed Menshawi for $190.0K

Ahmed Menshawi has left for Police Union in a $190.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

In brief

3 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Mabululu scores twice — 8.69

Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Arab Contractors come back empty-handed

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

Transfer targets

Sifiso Billiat turns down Ittihad

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: SuperSport United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Kermit Tau

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

Squad

A falling-out at Ittihad

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

Match

Ittihad find a way past Masr El Makasa

Masr El Makasa made Ittihad work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Squad

Abdelghani Mohamed 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

Islam Samir attracts admirers

The name of Islam Samir has come up in conversations Ittihad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Ahmed Hamdi

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

In brief

2 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Business is business: John Okoye Ebuka goes

Universitatea Craiova paid $4.1M and Ittihad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Tempers go at Ittihad

Mohamed Tony 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

Arab Contractors join the queue for Osama Ahmed

Add another name to the list: Arab Contractors have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Osama Ahmed. The answer from Ittihad has not changed — yet.

Market

Ittihad promote Walid Hegazi from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Walid Hegazi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market

Ittihad promote Salah El Shenawy from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Salah El Shenawy 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.

Squad

Words at Ittihad training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahmoud Dunga 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

Moamen Sherif signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moamen Sherif and Ittihad agree another 4 years.

Squad

10 new faces, and Ittihad 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.

Transfer targets

Ittihad try to borrow Omar Fayed

Frosinone have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

1 Edition

The Ittihad Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ittihad say no — this time

The offer from Hapoel Beer Sheva for John Okoye Ebuka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

A move Babatunde Bright would have made for nothing

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

Squad

John Okoye Ebuka signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” John Okoye Ebuka and Ittihad agree another 4 years.

Squad

Mabululu 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 Ittihad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Ittihad rebuffed over Thulani Khune

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

Squad

Mohamed Tony 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 clock runs on John Okoye Ebuka's contract

49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.

Market

Ittihad and Mabululu are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

Transfer targets

Ittihad ask about Igor Serrote

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

In brief