From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for Smouha
Beaten 1‑4 by Ismaily, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Zamalek is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.0K — a club that wants Joachim Ojera enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ajax Cape Town is saying, and nobody at Smouha is enjoying the guessing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Smouha
Khaled El Ghandour and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Smouha have gone to Arab Contractors with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mujeeb Odifeso, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Abdelrahman Amer 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.
In brief
-
Market
Samir Fekri attracts admirers
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Smouha dressing room in a hurry
-
Squad
Smouha are still strangers to each other
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Smouha spend $1.0M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $1.0M has been paid because Hicham Kanis is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Smouha have done the hard part with Ajax Cape Town, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Smouha
Khaled El Ghandour 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: Hicham Kanis from PAOK for $1.0M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. El Sayed El Nenny is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omar Trezeguet has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ashraf Fathy 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Mohamed Abdelsalam 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Smouha have gone to PAOK with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Khaled El Ghandour commits to Smouha for 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 Smouha this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Amr El Sisi 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town 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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Fady Farid asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.