The ninth round of the Qatar Stars League 2025 will be exceptional and unusual, as it brings together four greats in two fiery confrontations. The first brings together Al-Sadd with Al-Rayyan in the Qatari Classico, and the second brings together Al-Arabi and Al-Gharafa in an unprecedented public summit. The tour also witnesses a number of other strong confrontations.
The tour begins tomorrow, Thursday, with Al-Khor meeting with Qatar, Al-Gharafa with Al-Arabi, and Al-Sadd with Al-Rayyan, and concludes on Friday with confrontations between Al-Shamal with Al-Duhail, Al-Wakrah with Umm Salal, and Al-Ahly with Al-Shahania.
The round is also getting stronger and hotter due to the league being suspended for 20 days due to the AFC Champions League matches, and Al-Anabi resuming its matches in the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. Each team hopes to have a strong confrontation and achieve a positive result that will help it continue during the break.
By all accounts, this season’s Qatar Clasico will be a very exciting one between runner-up Al-Sadd (15 points) and eighth-placed Al Rayyan (10 points). Al-Zaeem is coming off a good victory over Al-Wakrah by three, which raised it to second place, especially after its competitor Al-Duhail fell into the trap of a draw with Al-Gharafa, which contributed to reducing the points difference in the summit clash. Al-Zaeem hopes to continue victories and win over Al-Rayyan to continue creeping towards the lead to defend its title, while Al-Rayyan’s victories are still at a standstill after its draw in the last round with Al-Ahly, and before that its loss to Al-Arabi. Al Rayyan hopes to kill two birds with one stone, which is to defeat the leader in El Clásico and regain victories.
Different top
The summit of Al-Arabi ninth (10 points) and Al-Gharafa fourth (12 points) is also considered a different and unprecedented summit, for many reasons, including the difference in points between them. If Al Arabi wins, it will surpass the Panthers, who if they excel will establish themselves in fourth place in the golden square. In addition, Al-Arabi’s morale is high after achieving the biggest win of the season last round over Qatar by four, while Al-Gharafa’s victories were halted by a draw with Al-Duhail, and it does not want to lose more points, so it will work with all its might in its confrontation with Al-Arabi in order to achieve victory.
Ghost of surprises
In its confrontation with Al-Shamal VII (10 points), Al-Duhail, the leader (19 points), will refuse any new and unpleasant surprise, after losing the most expensive 3 points in its history by losing to Al-Shahania in the sixth round, and losing the fourth point in a draw with Al-Gharafa in the last round. But the specter of surprises remains, as despite Al-Shamal’s loss to Al-Shahania, it achieved the biggest surprise in the previous round by defeating Al-Arabi with a huge score of 5-2.
The confrontation between Al-Ahly 3rd (15 points) and Al-Shahania 10th (8 points) is considered one of the most dangerous confrontations of the round, as Al-Ahly has stopped winning for two rounds, while Al-Shahania achieves good results such as wins over Al-Duhail and Al-Shamal. Al-Ahly seeks to regain victories to regain the runner-up position, while Al-Shahania seeks to advance further towards the safety zone.
Meeting the wounded
The match between the two injured teams, Al-Wakrah 6th (11 points) and Umm Salal 5th (11 points), will be a very strong and difficult match, due to the cessation of victories for both teams two rounds ago, which caused them to exit the semi-finals. Each team will strive hard to regain victories despite the difficulty of the task.
Bottom struggle
The match between Al Khor, the twelfth and last (4 points) and Qatar, the eleventh (7 points) is not easy, as the two teams are fighting at the bottom, and both of them want to get out of this impasse by returning victories.