Al Sadd team will begin its title defense campaign when it faces its counterpart, Al Shamal, in the opening of the “Ooredoo Stars League” competitions for the new season 2024/2025 at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium.
The team that has won the tournament the most times (17 times) is looking forward to maintaining its position after achieving the double last season by winning the league championship last season and winning the Emir’s Cup for the 19th time in its history.
Al Sadd fans expressed their satisfaction after the team’s good performance in the last friendly match, which witnessed its victory over the Egyptian Ismaili.
Al Sadd, who hired former Qatari national team coach Felix Sanchez to replace national coach Wissam Rizk, were able to conclude some notable deals, most notably Malian Mohamed Camara, who came from French Monaco, Spaniard Rafa Mujica, and Algerian defender Abdessamad Bounacer.
Al Sadd are also looking forward to the continued brilliance of their star Akram Afif, the best player in the 2023 Asian Cup, who also won the title of best player last season. In addition, the team regained the services of its Brazilian player Giovanni Henrique after recovering from injury.
In contrast, Al Shamal, led by Portuguese coach Nuno Almeida, who had previous experience with Al Sadd, will try to avoid losing to the title holder, in a match that will witness the first appearance of Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah against his former team, which compensated for the departure of striker Ricardo Gomez to Al Wakrah.
The matches of this round will start tomorrow, Friday, with a match between Al Rayyan and Umm Salal at Ahmed bin Ali Stadium. Al Rayyan, the team that won the Qatari league title 8 times, hopes to continue in the same manner after it managed to occupy the second place in the league last season, two points ahead of Al Sadd.
Al Rayyan knows that its competitor Umm Salal will not be easy prey, which requires Abdul Aziz Hatem’s teammates to play with caution.
Al Rayyan, who are preparing to participate in the AFC Champions League, have dispensed with Portuguese coach Leonardo Jardim and brought in Swedish coach Boya Espagi.
The match will witness the first official appearance of Al Rayyan’s Belgian professional, Julien Du Sart, on whom the team has high hopes in the middle of the field, alongside Spanish defender David Garcia, who came from Osasuna.
Al Rayyan also kept the Spanish forward duo Rodrigo Moreno and Brazilian Roger Guedes, as well as the midfield duo Gabriel Pereira and Thiago Mendes, and the Portuguese international defender Andre Amaro.
For his part, Umm Salal, who kept their French coach Patrice Carteron, are looking to make a good start and avoid losing in the match that begins the new season.
Umm Salal is waiting for many new professionals, most notably Croatian striker Antonio Mansi, as well as Moroccans Osama Tanan and Marouane Loudani, and Dutchman Kenji Joel.
Tomorrow, Al Khor will meet Al Gharafa at Al Bayt Stadium in a match that Al Gharafa fans will be waiting for, looking for an opening victory at the beginning of the journey that will boost the morale of the team seeking the title after coming close to it last season.
The eyes of the Portuguese Pedro Martinez, “the best coach last season”, will be directed towards achieving the full mark tomorrow before taking on the continental challenge, as he hosts the Emirati Shabab Al Ahli team on August 13, at Al Bayt Stadium, in order to participate in the group stage of the AFC Champions League for the elite.
Al-Gharafa, who have won the title 7 times before, managed to sign Real Madrid striker Joselu, who won the Euro 2024 and Champions League 2024 titles, in addition to signing Romanian international Coman, and retained their Algerian star Yacine Brahimi.
For his part, Al Khor, which is returning to the spotlight under the leadership of its national coach Abdullah Mubarak, hopes to make a different appearance and benefit from the lesson of relegation to the second division.
Al Khor was able to sign Iraqi striker Ayman Hussein from Al Quwa Al Jawiya, and Ivorian Yohan Boli, who had several experiences in the Qatari league before with Al Rayyan, Al Gharafa and Qatar.
The opening round of the Ooredoo Stars League matches will be completed with the match between Qatar SC and Al Duhail at Khalifa International Stadium.
Al Duhail, who have won the title 8 times before, are seeking to correct their course after a season devoid of any titles, in which they finished the league in sixth place.
Al Duhail strengthened its ranks by signing Spaniard Luis Alberto from Italian Lazio and Qatari national team player Humam Al Amin from Al Gharafa, while Brazilian midfielder Philippe Coutinho left for Vasco da Gama.
Under the leadership of its French coach Christophe Galtier, Al Duhail aims to regain its brilliance and reconcile with its fans in the new season to remain among the most prominent candidates for the title.
On the other hand, Qatar SC, which finished eighth in last season’s league and was runner-up in the Emir’s Cup, knows that its mission will be very difficult this season under the leadership of its national coach, Youssef Al-Nubi.
The team was able to strengthen its ranks by signing Brazilian midfielder Carlos Vinicius “Carlinhos”, and renewed its contract with Spanish Javi Martinez, the former defender of Bayern Munich, while continuing to rely on Moroccan Badr Banoun and Congolese Ben Malango.
The matches of this round will conclude next Sunday, with a match between Al Arabi, who finished fifth last season, and Al Shahaniya, the newcomer, at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Al-Arabi, led by national coach Younis Ali for the third consecutive season, maintained its most prominent players, including the Syrian international striker Omar Al-Somah, the Tunisian international Youssef Msakni, and the Spanish defender Wassim Kadari.
Al-Arabi, who have won the league title 7 times before, also brought in Luis Martin from Al-Duhail, and signed goalkeeper Mohammed Saeed, and renewed the contracts of players Abdullah Al-Marisi, Ahmed Moeen, Youssef Miftah, Hilal Mohammed, and Abdullah Al-Sulaiti.
In turn, Al-Shahaniya faces a new challenge after returning to the spotlight, following its victory in the play-off match last season against Al-Markhiya.
Al-Shahaniya kept its Spanish coach Alvaro Mejia and was able to sign new players, including Nasser Al-Ahraq, who came from Al-Gharafa, and Dutch striker Billy van Amersfoort, who came from the Dutch club Heerenveen. It also signed its compatriot, defender Sven van Beek, and renewed its contracts with Sierra Leonean Al-Hassan Koroma, Belgian Francisco Antonucci, and Spanish defender Marc Munia.
Al Janoub Stadium will host the final match of the round between Al Wakrah and Al Ahli, amid great keenness from the 2024 Qatar Cup champion to achieve a strong start similar to its recent seasons.
Al Wakrah, which will be led by the new Spanish coach Miguel Angel, has strengthened its ranks with Abdulkarim Hassan, the best player in Asia in 2018, coming from Persepolis of Iran, in addition to contracting with Ricardo Gomez coming from Al Shamal, Danish defender Alexander Scholz, and Tunisian Issa Al Aidouni, while Algerian striker Mohamed Benyettou and Australian defender Trent Sainsbury left its ranks.
For its part, Al-Ahly, which has assigned the technical management task to Croatian coach Igor Biscan, is looking forward to achieving a better position than last season, in which it came in tenth.
Al-Ahly was able to sign Spanish striker Eric Exposito and Croatian defender Mate Mitrovic, in addition to the continuation of German star Julian Draxler, Tunisian Naim Sliti and Ivorian Idrissa Doumbia, while Jordanian international Yazan Al-Naimat left the team.