2009–10 Qatar Stars League

The 2009–10 Qatar Stars League season was the 37th edition of top-level football championship in Qatar, which started in September 2009 and ended in April 2010.

Qatar Stars League

Season	2009–2010
Champions	Al-Gharafa
Relegated	Al-Shamal
AFC Champions League	Al-Gharafa Al-Rayyan Al-Sadd
Top goalscorer	Caboré Younis Mahmoud (21 goals each)
← 2008–09 2010–11 →

League expansion

Qatar Stars League slowly expanded since the turn of the decade, moving from 9 to 10 clubs and then latest setup of 12 clubs for this season 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 in the 2008–09 Qatar Stars League season, due to expansion reasons. The announcement was made with only one game remaining.^[1]

The expansion benefitted relegated Al-Kharaitiyat, who would stay in the first division, and would be joined by two second division clubs Al-Ahli and Al-Shamal, bringing the number up to 12.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said the expansion would help in improving league action, which was also curtailed to two rounds instead of the prevailing system where the teams played each other three times.

Teams

Doha

Umm Salal

Al Rayyan

Al Wakrah

Al Khor

Locations of teams in the 2009-10 Qatari League

Club	City/Town	Stadium	Head coach
Al-Ahli	Doha	Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium	Erik van der Meer
Al-Arabi	Doha	Grand Hamad Stadium	Uli Stielike
Al-Gharafa	Al Gharrafa	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Caio Júnior
Al-Kharaitiyat	Al Kharaitiyat	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Bernard Simondi
Al-Khor	Al Khor	Al-Khor SC Stadium	Bertrand Marchand
Al-Rayyan	Al Rayyan	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Paulo Autuori
Al-Sadd	Doha	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium	Cosmin Olăroiu
Al-Sailiya	Al Sailiya	Grand Hamad Stadium[2]	Džemal Hadžiabdić
Al-Shamal	Madinat ash Shamal	Al-Shamal SC Stadium	Alain Michel
Al Wakrah	Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	Mustapha Madih
Qatar SC	Doha	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	Sebastião Lazaroni
Umm Salal	Umm Salal	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Henk ten Cate

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Reason of departure	Replaced by	Date
Al-Gharafa	Marcos Paquetá	Contract not renewed [3]	Caio Júnior	July 2009
Al-Ahli	Carlos Manuel	Contract not renewed [4]	Richardo	July 2009
Al-Rayyan	Paulo Autuori	Contract not renewed [5]	Marcos Paquetá	July 2009
Al-Ahli	Richardo	Sacked [6]	Cesa	November 2009
Al-Rayyan	Marcos Paquetá	Sacked [7]	Paulo Autuori	November 2009
Al-Shamal	Robertinho	Sacked [8]	Alain Michel	November 2009
Al-Ahli	Cesa	Sacked	Erik van der Meer	January 2010
Umm Salal	Gérard Gili	Sacked [9]	Henk ten Cate	March 2010

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	AFC player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Júlio César	Wagner Ribeiro	John Benson	Olivier Tia	Mamadou Diakité		Khalifa Ayil Al-Noufali	Fernando Rahman Rezaei
Al-Arabi	Boualem Khoukhi	Leonardo Pisculichi	Caboré	Daniel Carvalho	Kim	Igor Novaković	Salman Isa
Al-Gharafa	Clemerson	Juninho Pernambucano	Otmane El Assas				Younis Mahmoud
Al-Kharaitiyat	Yahia Kébé	Youness Mankari	Dario Khan				Alaa Abdul-Zahra	Souleymane Keïta
Al-Khor	Sayed Mohamed Adnan	Abdoulaye Cissé	Moumouni Dagano	Bill Tchato	Moussa Pokong		Salam Shaker	Rafik Saïfi Da Silva
Al-Rayyan	Afonso Alves	Marcelo Tavares	Daniel Goumou	Amara Diané			Amad Al-Hosni	Danny Allsopp Pascal Feindouno
Al-Sadd	Felipe	Leandro	Agyemang Opoku	Quincy Owusu-Abeyie			Mohammed Rabia Al-Noobi	Afonso Alves
Al-Shamal	Mahmood Abdulrahman	Ivanildo	Zé Adriano	Bong Bertrand	Elbekay Bouchiba	Yamen Ben Zekry	Adel Humoud	Lima Caló Samer Saeed Ali Ben Abdelkader
Al-Sailiya	Faouzi Aaish	Dennis Souza	Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona	Babou Sidiki	Mobello Baba Keita	Moustapha Dabo	Mustafa Karim	Roger
Al-Wakrah	Tom Caluwé	Adil Ramzi	Youness Hawassi				Ali Rehema	Delano Hill
Qatar SC	Marcinho	Talal El Karkouri	Youssef Safri				Qusay Munir	Ali Hasan Kamal
Umm Salal	Davi	Magno Alves	Pejman Khoubiari	Aziz Ben Askar			Mohamed Husain	Moussa N'Diaye

Final league table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al-Gharafa	22	16	5	1	55	16	+39	53	2011 AFC Champions League group stage and 2010 Qatar Crown Prince Cup
2	Al-Sadd	22	15	5	2	55	22	+33	50	2011 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off and 2010 Qatar Crown Prince Cup
3	Al-Arabi	22	12	4	6	52	30	+22	40	2010 Qatar Crown Prince Cup and 2011 GCC Champions League
4	Qatar SC	22	11	5	6	32	23	+9	38	2010 Qatar Crown Prince Cup
5	Al-Rayyan	22	11	4	7	41	30	+11	37	2011 AFC Champions League group stage[a]
6	Al-Kharaitiyat	22	8	5	9	23	36	−13	29	2011 GCC Champions League
7	Umm Salal	22	7	7	8	27	30	−3	28
8	Al-Wakrah	22	8	3	11	44	44	0	27
9	Al-Khor	22	5	5	12	21	30	−9	20
10	Al-Ahli	22	6	2	14	31	53	−22	20
11	Al-Sailiya	22	4	7	11	16	28	−12	19	Promotion/relegation playoff
12	Al-Shamal (R)	22	2	2	18	17	72	−55	8	Relegation

Updated to match(es) played on 4 April 2010. Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Qualified by winning the 2010 Emir of Qatar Cup.

• Al-Sailiya defeated Mesaimeer 2-0 in the end of season relegation playoff to stay in the top flight

Qatar Stars League 2009–10 winners
Al-Gharafa 7th title

Fixtures and results

Home \ Away	SAD	RAY	GHA	QSC	UMM	KHO	WAK	KHA	ARA	SAI	SHA	AHL
Al-Sadd		4–3	1–1	3–0	5–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–3	2–1	5–1	3–0
Al-Rayyan	1–4		0–3	1–3	0–0	2–1	5–2	0–1	3–1	0–0	3–0	2–0
Al-Gharafa	4–1	4–1		0–0	1–0	4–1	2–3	2–0	2–1	1–0	8–1	4–0
Qatar SC	1–1	5–2	3–3		0–0	2–0	1–0	3–1	1–3	3–0	0–3	2–0
Umm Salal	1–0	1–1	1–3	0–1		1–0	2–2	3–3	1–3	1–0	4–1	3–2
Al-Khor	0–2		0–1		0–1		1–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–1
Al-Wakrah	1–3	0–4	1–4	0–1	3–2	4–1		1–1	0–1	1–2	7–0	5–2
Al-Kharaitiyat	0–2	0–1	0–4	0–2		0–1	4–2		0–6	1–1	2–1	2–1
Al-Arabi	0–2	0–5	1–1	2–3	2–1	2–1	3–2	1–2		2–2	6–2	1–2
Al-Sailiya	1–3	0–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–3	0–0	0–2		1–1	0–1
Al-Shamal	0–2	0–3	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–5	1–2	0–1	0–7	0–3
Al-Ahli	2–6	1–2	0–0	1–0	1–4	3–2	4–5	2–3	0–4	1–2	6–2

Updated to match(es) played on 4 April 2010. Source: QFA Qatar Football Association - Home
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

21 goals

• Caboré (Al-Arabi)
• Younis Mahmoud (Al-Gharafa)

20 goals

• Leandro (Al-Sadd)

17 goals

• Adil Ramzi (Al-Wakrah)

15 goals

• Clemerson (Al-Gharafa)
• Sebastian Soria (Qatar SC)

11 goals

• Magno Alves (Umm Salal)

10 goals

• Afonso Alves (Al-Sadd and Al-Rayyan)
• Alaa Abdul-Zahra (Al-Kharaitiyat)

9 goals

• Júlio César (Al-Ahli)