Today, the Qatari-Emirati Super Cup begins the second season, with a strong and exciting confrontation between Al Rayyan and Shabab Al Ahly in the Challenge Shield at the Ahmed Bin Ali World Cup Stadium. The match begins at six in the evening, and there must be a winner, and if the match ends in a draw, penalty shoot-out will be used.
Al Rayyan is competing in the Challenge Shield as runner-up in the Arid Stars League last season, and Shabab Al-Ahly is competing in the match as runner-up in the UAE League.
The confrontation is expected to come out very strong, as Al Rayyan is participating for the first time in the Super Cup and wants to prove its presence, make its fans happy, and win the Challenge Shield.
While Shabab Al-Ahly participated in last season’s edition and won the Super Shield after defeating Al-Duhail
In addition to all of that, today’s match is the third match for Al-Ahly of the Emirates against our teams and clubs, and it lost one of them to Al-Gharafa in the qualifiers for the AFC Champions League with an unanswered goal, while Al-Ahly won against Al-Duhail in the Qatari-Emirati Super Cup.
The confrontation will be fiery because the coaches of the two teams are from the Portuguese school, namely Artur Jorge, the coach of Al Rayyan, and Paulo Manuel Carvalho, the coach of Al Ahly, who has sufficient information about Qatari football, as he was the team’s coach in the Al-Duhail and Al-Gharafa matches.
The Al Rayyan coach began his mission this week by leading Al-Raheeb to a crushing victory over Umm Salal 6-2 in the first match in which he led the team in the Stars League, while Carvalho has led Shabab Al-Ahly since 2024.
Al-Rahib performed well against Salal in his first official appearance after the return of the league and after Artur Jorge took over as coach, and achieved a landslide victory that raised the morale of the team, the players and also the fans after a performance that had been unstable since the beginning of the season, which is what keeps Al-Rayyan fans in high spirits before tonight’s confrontation. This makes them dream of their first title in the 2025 season. Al Rayyan is counting on a group of distinguished players, especially in attack, with the presence of the dangerous trio consisting of Roger Guedes, the team’s top scorer, and Ashraf Ben. Sharqi and Mahmoud Terzejia, along with the young duo Tamim Mansour and Ahmed Al-Rawi, who will support the attack if he recovers and participates tonight.
Al-Rayyan’s level differed from the previous one, and also its performance, especially in the offensive aspect, after the changes made by its new coach, and after the touches he quickly put in place, the most notable of which was the presence of a good number of attackers, unlike the previous period in which the Al-Rayyan attack was suffering in front of the competitors’ defense for many reasons, including the lack of Numbers in front of the numerical superiority of the defenders.
On the other hand, Al-Ahly of the Emirates relies on a good and also dangerous group in attack, with the presence of Iranian top scorer Sardar Tzamoun, his compatriot, midfielder Saeed Azzallah, and striker Matthews Lima, the team’s second top scorer after Azmoun, Yassine Boualem and Brazilian Youri Cesar.
Arthur George: We are aiming for the coronation
Al Rayyan’s Portuguese coach, Artur Jorge, confirmed the team’s readiness to play the UAE’s Shabab Al-Ahly match for the Challenge Shield in the Qatari-Emirati Super Cup at Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium.
The coach said in his statements during the press conference: Such matches do not accept mistakes, and winning this title will constitute a great motivation for us in the remaining competitions during the current season, in which we aspire to be among the best three teams in the league due to the points difference between us and the leaders, and it will be difficult to win the league title. The Portuguese coach continued: During the current season, we also seek to compete and win the cup title.
Coach: We know the capabilities of Shabab Al-Ahly well, in light of the presence of distinguished players in its ranks, and it leads the UAE League, so the confrontation against it will not be easy.
He added: Despite my short period, I feel the team is developing and we seek to focus on creating a winning mindset in all matches.
Paulo Souza: The title is our goal
The Portuguese coach, Paulo Sousa, coach of the UAE’s Al-Ahly youth, confirmed his team’s readiness to compete in the Challenge Shield match against Al-Rayyan.
He said that they are entering the match with great ambitions to win and be crowned, noting that the confrontation against Al Rayyan will be difficult and strong in light of the presence of a group of distinguished players.
He added: We received a wonderful reception in the State of Qatar, and the match is considered a final and we will play against a strong team that has a distinguished coach who achieved many achievements with his former team, Botafogo, Brazil.
He continued: We have reached a high degree of readiness, and we will go into the match with the highest levels of concentration with the aim of achieving the desired result and obtaining the title, and the small details are what will decide the match.
He continued: We are excited about this match, which brings us together with a strong and distinguished team that has a great coach, and we hope that we will perform well during the match to produce the result that we are looking forward to.
Amaro: Making our fans happy
Andre Amaro, Al Rayyan club player, confirmed that the next confrontation against Shabab Al-Ahly of the Emirates will be difficult and strong in the competition for the Challenge Shield.
The player said in his statements during the press conference: We have great motivation to be crowned and obtain the title of this tournament, which we will enter in order to please our fans by presenting a good level after our preparations for the match went optimally.
Amaro added: We realize the difficulty of the task facing an experienced and strong team, and we have confidence in ourselves to provide the level that helps us achieve victory, especially since such confrontations are decided by small details.
Saeed Ezzat Allah: A great challenge
Iranian Saeed Ezzat Allah, Shabab Al-Ahly player, confirmed that facing Al Rayyan for the Challenge Shield. He said: This confrontation will be difficult, and it is a final that can only be won, and we are required to go into the match with a high degree of concentration and realize that we are facing a strong team. He added: We have a great challenge in the current season, through which we aspire to achieve the championships that we are competing for, and we realize that this thing requires Put in more effort and work, and this is what we always work on in all the matches we enter with the aim of achieving victory.