The first and second rounds of the Qatar Football League / Ooredoo Stars League / witnessed a clear brilliance of Arab professional players, which confirms their great ambitions to outperform their foreign counterparts with the start of the new football season 2024-2025.
Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah, who plays for Al Shamal Club, topped the scorers’ list in the tournament with 4 goals, which he scored in the first two rounds. He managed to score a brace against Al Sadd (the title holder) in the first round, then scored another brace against Umm Salal in the second round of the competition.
Bounedjah is one of the most prominent professional players in the Qatari league in recent years, as he achieved many great accomplishments during his career with Al Sadd Club before moving to Al Shamal at the beginning of the current season. He showed a great desire to continue his success by presenting a distinguished performance in the first two rounds with Al Shamal team.
His compatriot Victor Lakhal, the Umm Salal striker, also shone, scoring two goals during the second round of the Ooredoo Stars League against Al Shamal Club. The Algerian striker led his team to achieve the first victory in the tournament, raising the team’s ambition to continue winning in the following rounds.
His teammate at Umm Salal, Moroccan professional Osama Tanan, succeeded in scoring Umm Salal’s first goal in the league this season against Al Rayyan in the first round of the competition.
With Al Wakrah, his compatriot Ayoub Assal excelled in the first two rounds, despite his team’s draws against Al Ahli and Al Arabi. Assal scored a goal and made another with a wonderful pass in the opening round against Al Ahli, in a match that ended in a 2-2 draw. The Moroccan player is one of the mainstays of Al Wakrah and one of the most prominent Arab players in the Ooredoo Stars League, where he shone last season and contributed with his teammates to winning the Qatar Cup.
The Syrian striker Omar Al Somah returned to scoring again with Al Arabi after his absence from the first round, as he succeeded in scoring a goal for his team against Al Wakra in the second round, and prevented the first loss for Al Arabi in the league after he equalized for his team in the (77) minute of that match in which he played as a substitute, and he quickly left his mark in less than (10) minutes only after entering as a substitute.
Al Somah dedicated his first goal to Al Arabi in the league this season, and the club’s fans hope that the player will continue scoring goals to help his team return to the competition circle again.
Al Duhail Club leads the /Ooredoo Stars League/ standings after the end of the second round with (6) points, while Al Ahli Club occupies second place with (4) points, then Al Sadd, Al Shamal, Umm Salal and Al Rayyan, each with three points, then Al Wakrah, Al Arabi, Al Khor and Al Shahaniya with two points, then Al Gharafa with one point, and Qatar Club comes in twelfth and last place with no points.
Qatar SC is looking forward to overcoming its losses in the first two rounds against Al Duhail and Al Sadd, and is seeking to achieve its first victory in the league during its upcoming match against Al Shamal the day after tomorrow (Thursday) in the third round of the tournament. It hopes that the new deal it recently concluded will contribute to improving the team’s situation, as it has added a new Arab professional to the list of Arab professionals in our league by contracting with the Egyptian Ahmed Abdel Qader from Al Ahly of Egypt for one season on loan.
The Qatari league has witnessed a distinguished presence at the level of Arab professionals during recent seasons, as Algerian Yacine Brahimi, Al-Gharafa player, competed for the best player award last season, which was won by Akram Afif, Al-Sadd player, while Tunisian Youssef Msakni won the best player award in the season before last, and Algerian Baghdad Bounedjah previously won the league’s top scorer award for the 2020-2021 season.