2008–09 Qatar Stars League

The 2008–09 Qatar Stars League season was the 36th edition of top level football in Qatar and started on the 13 September 2008.

Qatar Stars League

Season	2008–09
Champions	Al-Gharafa
AFC Champions League	Al-Gharafa Al-Sadd
AFC Cup	Al-Rayyan
Gulf Club Champions Cup	Al-Khor Qatar SC
Top goalscorer	Magno Alves (25 goals)
← 2007–08 2009–10 →

The season was played in 3 stages:

The 2008–09 calendar released by the QFA saw the first phase run through 13 September till 23 November before phase two kicked off on 27 November to end on 7 February 2009. The final phase started on February 12 and concluded on April 17.

Ten teams played for the title of league champions with each outfit playing 27 matches. The last team in the standings was to be relegated until the QFA announced an expansion to the league for the following season.

The competition was played at the seven stadiums of Al-Sadd, Al-Rayyan, Al-Gharafa, Al-Wakrah, Al-Khor, Qatar SC, and Al-Arabi.

Al-Gharafa won the title last season after pipping powerhouse Al-Sadd into second place while Al-Shamal were relegated and their place in the top division would be taken up by Al-Kharaitiyat.

League expansion

The Qatar Stars League has slowly expanded since the turn of the decade, moving from 9 clubs to 10 clubs and then latest setup of 12 clubs for the 2009–10 Qatar Stars League campaign.

There are 2 divisions in the Qatari football structure and the league has previously seen one club promoted and relegated each year except in 'expansion' years.

It was announced on 15 April 2009 that no clubs would be relegated from the top flight due to expansion reasons. The announcement was made with only one game remaining.^[1]

Teams

Club	City/Town	Stadium	Head coach	Last season	Notes
Al-Gharafa	Al Gharrafa	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Marcos Paquetá	Q-League Champions	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Al-Sadd	Doha	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium	Cosmin Olăroiu	2nd in Q-League
Umm Salal	Umm Salal	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Gérard Gili	3rd in Q-League	2009 AFC Champions League Qualifier
Qatar SC	Doha	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	Sebastião Lazaroni	4th in Q-League
Al-Rayyan	Al Rayyan	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Paulo Autuori	5th in Q-League
Al-Arabi	Doha	Grand Hamad Stadium	Uli Stielike	6th in Q-League
Al-Khor	Al Khor	Al-Khor SC Stadium	Bertrand Marchand	7th in Q-League	2008 Gulf Club Champions Cup Qualifier
Al-Sailiya	Al Sailiya	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	Nebojša Vučković	8th in Q-League
Al-Wakrah	Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	Mustapha Madih	9th in Q-League
Al-Kharaitiyat	Al Kharaitiyat	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Arturzinho	Promoted from 2nd level

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	AFC player	Former players
Al-Arabi	Leonardo Pisculichi	Salman Isa	Kim	Lomana LuaLua	Souleymane Keïta		Mohammed Al-Balushi	Younis Mahmoud
Al-Gharafa	Clemerson	Fernandão	Nashat Akram	Otmane El Assas	Hakan Yakin		Younis Mahmoud
Al-Khor	Sayed Mohamed Adnan	Moumouni Dagano	Bill Tchato	Alaa Abdul-Zahra	Mahdi Karim	Kamel Zaiem	Salam Shaker	Da Silva Fabrício Souza Jean Paul Yontcha
Al-Kharaitiyat	Abdulla Baba Fatadi	Oumar Tchomogo	Fabão	Rodolfo Soares	Joseph-Désiré Job	Sabri Lamouchi	Ashraf Bait Taysir	Wílton Figueiredo Ali Hasan Kamal
Al-Rayyan	Aloísio Chulapa	Marcelo Tavares	Ricardinho	Amara Diané	Amad Al-Hosni	Abasse Ba	Hassan Mudhafar Al-Gheilani	Roque Júnior
Al-Sadd	Felipe	Carlos Tenorio	Agyemang Opoku	Pascal Feindouno	Khalifa Ayil Al-Noufali	Mohammed Rabia Al-Noobi	Ismail Matar
Al-Sailiya	Abdoulaye Cissé	Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona	Ahmed Kano	Mobello Baba Keita	Lamjed Chehoudi		Badar Al-Maimani
Al-Wakrah	Ali Rehema	Adil Ramzi	Anouar Diba	Delano Hill	Elbekay Bouchiba		Karrar Jassim
Qatar SC	Marcinho	Roger	Qusay Munir	Talal El Karkouri	Youssef Safri		Ahmed Al-Dokhi
Umm Salal	Fabrício Souza	Magno Alves	Nivaldo	Pejman Khoubiari	Aziz Ben Askar	Moussa N'Diaye	Mohamed Husain	Sabri Lamouchi

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Al-Gharafa	27	17	5	5	56	33	+23	56
2	Al-Sadd	27	15	9	3	60	25	+35	54
3	Al-Rayyan	27	15	7	5	62	35	+27	52
4	Qatar SC	27	11	10	6	42	36	+6	43
5	Al-Khor	27	9	13	5	38	28	+10	40
6	Umm Salal	27	9	8	10	46	45	+1	35
7	Al-Arabi	27	8	5	14	37	51	−14	29
8	Al-Wakrah	27	8	3	16	32	56	−24	27
9	Al-Sailiya	27	5	5	17	31	58	−27	20
10	Al-Kharaitiyat	27	3	6	18	19	59	−40	15

Source: RSSSF

Qatar Stars League 2008–09 winners
Al-Gharafa 6th title

Top scorers

25 goals

• Magno Alves (Umm Salal)

21 goals

• Leonardo Pisculichi (Al-Arabi)

20 goals

• Clemerson (Al-Gharafa)

19 goals

• Amara Diané (Al-Rayyan)
• Sebastián Soria (Qatar SC)

15 goals

• Khalfan Ibrahim (Al-Sadd)

13 goals

• Agyemang Opoku (Al-Sadd)

11 goals

• Sayed Mohamed Adnan (Al-Khor)
• Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona (Al-Sailiya)
• Pascal Feindouno (Al-Sadd)
• Amad Al-Hosni (Al-Rayyan)

10 goals

• Fernandão (Al-Gharafa)
• Moumouni Dagano (Al-Khor)
• Anouar Diba (Al-Wakrah)