2013–14 Qatar Stars League

The 2013–14 Qatar Stars League was the 41st edition of top-level football championship in Qatar. The season started on 1 September 2013 and ended on 11 April 2014. Al-Sadd were the defending champions. Lekhwiya won its third league title with 53 points.

Qatar Stars League

Season	2013–14
Champions	Lekhwiya 3rd title
Relegated	Al-Rayyan Muaither
AFC Champions League	Lekhwiya El Jaish Al-Sadd
Matches played	182
Goals scored	553 (3.04 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dioko Kaluyituka (22 goals)
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

League expansion

At the end of the previous season, it was announced that the 2013–14 season would feature 14 teams. The decision to increase the numbers of teams means Al-Sailiya, who finished bottom of the league table, will avoid relegation. Meanwhile, Muaither, who lost to Al-Arabi in the play-offs, will join as the 14th team. The Second Division and the reserve league also merged to create a stronger second tier.^[1] On the 6 October 2013 it was announced that the second tier would be known as the QatarGas League due to sponsorship reasons.^[2]

Teams

Al-Ahli were promoted as champions from the 2nd Division. They were joined by Muaither who came in second place and failed to win the end of season playoff against Al-Arabi but secured promotion due to the league expansion

Stadia and locations

Doha

Umm Salal

Al Rayyan

Al Khor

Locations of teams in the 2013–14 Qatari League

Club	City/Town	Stadium	Capacity
Al-Ahli	Doha	Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium	20,000
Al-Arabi	Doha	Grand Hamad Stadium[3]	13,000
Al-Gharafa	Al Gharrafa	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	22,000
Al-Kharaitiyat	Al Kharaitiyat	Al-Khor SC Stadium	13,000
Al-Khor	Al Khor	Al-Khor SC Stadium	13,000
Al-Rayyan	Al Rayyan	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	22,000
Al-Sadd	Doha	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium	18,000
Al-Sailiya	Doha	Ahmad bin Ali Stadium 1	22,000
Al-Wakrah	Al Wakrah	Al Janoub Stadium	12,000
El Jaish	Duhail	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	13,000
Lekhwiya	Doha	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium	15,000
Muaither	Muaither	Khalifa International Stadium	50,000
Qatar SC	Doha	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	13,000
Umm Salal	Umm Salal	Grand Hamad Stadium	13,000

¹ Al Sailiya do not have a stadium of their own so will share with Al Rayyan.^[4]

Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Head coach
Al-Ahli	Milan Máčala
Al-Arabi	Paulo César Carpegiani
Al-Gharafa	Diego Aguirre
Al-Kharaitiyat	Bertrand Marchand
Al-Khor	László Bölöni[5]
Al-Rayyan	Manolo Jiménez
Al-Sadd	Hussein Ammouta
Al-Sailiya	Sami Trabelsi
Al-Wakrah	Maher Kanzari
El Jaish	Nabil Maâloul
Lekhwiya	Eric Gerets
Muaither	Ladislas Lozano
Qatar SC	Sebastião Lazaroni
Umm Salal	Bülent Uygun

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al-Kharaitiyat	Bernard Simondi[6]	Contract expired	23 May 2013	Bertrand Marchand[7]	26 May 2013
Al-Sailiya	Abdullah Mubarak	Resigned [8]	8 June 2013	Sami Trabelsi[9]	8 June 2013
Al-Arabi	Abdelaziz Bennij	Contract expired	8 June 2013	Uli Stielike[10]	8 June 2013
Al-Wakrah	Mehmed Baždarević	Contract expired	20 June 2013	Adnan Dirjal[11]	20 June 2013
Umm Salal	Alain Perrin	Sacked	30 September 2013	Gérard Gili[12]	30 September 2013
Al-Rayyan	Diego Aguirre	Sacked	30 October 2013	Manolo Jiménez[13]	6 November 2013
Umm Salal	Gérard Gili	Sacked	14 December 2013	Bülent Uygun[14]	14 December 2013
El Jaish	Răzvan Lucescu	Sacked	16 January 2014	Nabil Maâloul[15]	21 January 2014
Al-Arabi	Uli Stielike	Sacked [16]	28 January 2014	Paulo César Carpegiani	18 February 2014
Al-Gharafa	Zico	Mutual consent [17]	29 January 2014	Diego Aguirre	6 February 2014
Al-Wakrah	Adnan Dirjal	Resigned [18]	12 March 2014	Maher Kanzari	1 June 2014

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	AFC player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Abdullah Omar	Dioko Kaluyituka	Patou Kabangu		Mojtaba Jabbari	Ferydoon Zandi
Al-Arabi	Karim Ziani	Bruno Rangel	Wanderley		Orestes 1	Sayed Mohamed Adnan Jesús Meza
Al-Gharafa	Lisandro López	Nenê	Lassina Diaby	Miku	Mark Bresciano
Al-Kharaitiyat	Domingos	Yahia Kébé	Vivien Assie	Youssef Kaddioui	Jaycee John
Al-Khor	Júlio César	Madson	William	Ali Hasan Kamal	Salam Shaker	Bruno Mineiro Faouzi Abdelghani
Al-Rayyan	Lucho González	Kalu Uche	Yakubu		Cho Yong-hyung	Juan Forlín Leandro Padovani Nilmar Rodrigo Tabata
Al-Sadd	Nadir Belhadj	Rodrigo Tabata	Raúl		Lee Jung-soo	Leandro Mamadou Niang
Al-Sailiya	Marcelo Camacho	Marcelo Tavares	Moumouni Dagano	Yves Diba Ilunga	Faouzi Aaish
Al-Wakrah	Sebastián Sáez	Michel	Saïd Boutahar		Ali Rehema	Anouar Diba
El Jaish	Anderson Martins	Nilmar	Jirès Kembo Ekoko	Mohammad Mothnani	Go Seul-ki	Kalu Uche Ahmed Hadid Al-Mukhaini
Lekhwiya	Madjid Bougherra	Vladimír Weiss	Youssef Msakni		Nam Tae-hee	Issiar Dia
Muaither	Jhasmani Campos	Johnson Kendrick	Rodrigo	Cho Sung-hwan	Ha Sung-min	Ebrahima Sawaneh Đorđe Đikanović Fozil Musaev
Qatar SC	Adriano	Douglão	Marcinho		Sin Jin-ho
Umm Salal	Caboré	Victor Simões	Otmane El Assas		Pejman Montazeri	Sasa Ognenovski Bakari Koné

^1 Orestes has East Timorese citizenship and was counted as Asian player.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Lekhwiya (C)	26	16	5	5	55	30	+25	53	2015 AFC Champions League group stage
2	El Jaish	26	14	6	6	39	27	+12	48	2015 AFC Champions League 2nd qualifying round
3	Al-Sadd	26	13	8	5	54	30	+24	47
4	Al-Sailiya	26	11	9	6	45	37	+8	42
5	Al-Arabi	26	11	6	9	41	41	0	39	2015 GCC Champions League group stage
6	Al-Ahli	26	9	7	10	48	50	−2	34
7	Umm Salal	26	9	7	10	34	36	−2	34
8	Al-Wakrah	26	8	8	10	41	40	+1	32
9	Al-Gharafa	26	8	8	10	40	41	−1	32
10	Qatar SC	26	8	7	11	34	40	−6	31
11	Al-Khor	26	5	15	6	29	30	−1	30
12	Al-Kharaitiyat	26	7	8	11	31	34	−3	29
13	Al-Rayyan (R)	26	7	8	11	34	40	−6	29	GCC Champions League and relegation to the 2nd Division
14	Muaither (R)	26	4	2	20	28	69	−41	14	Relegation to the 2014–15 Qatari 2nd Division

Updated to match(es) played on 11 April 2014. Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated