Bondarenko's Omission Sparks Pressure on Pusic Ahead of Al-Hazm Match

Artem Bondarenko has not kicked a ball, yet he has already dragged his coach into a storm.

Al-Ahli’s new Ukrainian midfielder has left Dutch boss Marino Pusic facing an uncomfortable confrontation with his own supporters ahead of the Roshn League meeting with Al-Hazm.

Al-Ahli host Al-Hazm today, Friday, at Alinma Stadium in Jeddah in the seventh round of the Saudi Roshn League. On the surface, it is a routine home fixture. Around Bondarenko, nothing feels routine.

Saudi journalist Waleed Saeed revealed on X that Pusic has once again decided to leave Bondarenko out of the matchday squad, with Brazilian winger Matheus Goncalves also omitted. One decision, two absentees – but only one name really stirs the crowd.

For Bondarenko, this is becoming a pattern. It is the third time he has been dropped from the squad entirely since joining from Shakhtar Donetsk in last summer’s transfer window.

His minutes have been scattered and unforgiving. The 26-year-old has appeared just twice for “Al-Raqi”: the 1-3 defeat to Al-Khaleej in the fourth round and the emphatic 5-0 win over Al-Riyadh in the fifth. A heavy loss, then a big victory – and still no stable place.

Everywhere else, he has simply vanished from the team sheet. Pusic did not include him in the 0-3 defeat to Al-Hilal in the third round. He was missing again in the 2-3 loss to Al-Qadsiah in the sixth. Now his absence stretches into the Al-Hazm game as well.

Each omission tightens the grip on Pusic. This is not a player the club hierarchy forced on him. This is his man.

Pusic was the driving force behind Bondarenko’s arrival, leaning on their shared past at Shakhtar between 2023 and 2025. He knew the midfielder. He trusted him. He wanted him in Jeddah.

The fans did not. Long before the transfer was completed, sections of the Al-Ahli support had already voiced their opposition to the move. The skepticism did not fade once he arrived; it followed him onto the pitch.

During the 5-0 win over Al-Riyadh, Bondarenko felt the full weight of that hostility, jeered by his own supporters. Since that night, he has not featured again.

Now, with Al-Hazm in town and pressure building after recent defeats, Pusic has chosen to leave his controversial signing out once more. The question hangs over Alinma Stadium: how long can a coach stand by a decision he once believed in, when the stands so clearly do not?