From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for Najran
Beaten 0‑9 by Al-Ahli, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alexi Gómez gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Alexi Gómez has just signed for Najran, and for once the answer mattered.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Najran
Diego Venancio was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Nobody could stop scoring
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Najran and Al-Ahli in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Alexi Gómez falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Najran dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Najran pay Tacuarembo $210.0K for a proper upgrade
Tacuarembo did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $210.0K for Andrés Samurio, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Najran
Diego Venancio 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Andrés Samurio from Tacuarembo for $210.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Najran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulaziz Al-Barrak 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Al-Nahda will make the call about Wassim Al-Shehri this week. Najran have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Market10 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Diego Venancio and Najran agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Najran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Wassim Al-Shehri has come up in conversations Najran were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Voices raised on the Najran training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdulmajeed Al-Arishi has his answer from Najran; what he does with it is the next window’s story.