2016–17 Qatar Stars League

The 2016–17 Qatar Stars League was the 44th edition of top-level football championship in Qatar. The season began on 15 September 2016 and concluded on 27 April 2017.

Qatar Stars League

Season	2016–17
Champions	Lekhwiya (5th title)
Relegated	Muaither Al-Wakrah
AFC Champions League	Lekhwiya Al-Sadd Al-Gharafa
Matches played	168
Goals scored	525 (3.13 per match)
Top goalscorer	Baghdad Bounedjah Youssef El-Arabi (24 goals each)
Biggest home win	Lekhwiya 10–0 Al-Shahaniya (21 December 2016)
Biggest away win	Al-Rayyan 0–5 Al-Sadd (7 December 2016)
Highest scoring	Al-Sailiya 4–6 El-Jaish (2 November 2016) Lekhwiya 10–0 Al-Shahaniya (21 December 2016)
Longest winning run	9 matches Lekhwiya
Longest unbeaten run	20 matches Lekhwiya
Longest winless run	18 matches Al-Shahaniya
Longest losing run	8 matches Muaither
Highest attendance	7,703 Al-Sadd 4–1 Al-Rayyan (2 April 2017)
Average attendance	672
← 2015–16 2017–18 → All statistics correct as of 2 April 2017.

Al-Rayyan were the defending champions, having won their eighth championship.^[1] Muaither and Al-Shahaniya have entered as the two promoted teams from the 2015–16 Qatargas League.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Club	City/Town	Stadium	Head coach
Al-Ahli	Doha	Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium	Yousuf Adam
Al-Arabi	Doha	Grand Hamad Stadium	Oswaldo de Oliveira
Al-Gharafa	Al Gharrafa	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Pedro Caixinha
Al-Kharaitiyat	Al Kharaitiyat	Al-Khor SC Stadium	Ahmad Al-Ajlani
Al-Khor	Al Khor	Al-Khor SC Stadium	Jean Fernandez
Al-Rayyan	Al Rayyan	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium	Michael Laudrup
Al-Sadd	Doha	Jassim bin Hamad Stadium	Jesualdo Ferreira
Al-Sailiya	Al Sailiya	Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium	Sami Trabelsi
Al-Shahaniya	Al-Shahaniya	Grand Hamad Stadium	Igor Štimac
Al-Wakrah	Al Wakrah	Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium	Kais Yaâkoubi
El Jaish	Duhail	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium	Sabri Lamouchi
Lekhwiya	Doha	Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium	Djamel Belmadi
Muaither	Muaither	Thani bin Jassim Stadium	Philippe Burle
Umm Salal	Doha	Suheim bin Hamad Stadium	Mahmoud Jaber

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Manner of departure	Pos.	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Al-Ahli	Yousuf Adam	11 May 2016[2]	Mutual consent	Pre-season	Luka Bonačić	11 May 2016[3]
Al-Shahaniya	Luka Bonačić	11 May 2016			Fathi Al-Jabal	17 June 2016[4]
Al-Arabi	Gianfranco Zola	28 June 2016	Sacked		Gerardo Pelusso	28 June 2016
Al-Rayyan	Jorge Fossati	26 September 2016	Signed by Qatar	4th	Michael Laudrup	3 October 2016
Al-Ahli	Luka Bonačić	28 October 2016	Sacked	7th	Yousuf Adam	30 October 2016
Al-Wakrah	Mauricio Larriera	29 November 2016		13th	Kais Yaâkoubi	30 November 2016
Umm Salal	Bülent Uygun	14 December 2016		7th	Mahmoud Jaber	14 December 2016
Al-Shahaniya	Fathi Al-Jabal	25 December 2016		12th	Igor Štimac	28 December 2016

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	AFC Player	Former players
Al-Ahli	Cristian Maidana	Mojtaba Jabbari	Yassine Chikhaoui		Pejman Montazeri	Sayed Mohamed Adnan Ndombe Mubele Wilfried Yessoh
Al-Arabi	Paulinho	Vivien Assie	Imoh Ezekiel	Moustapha Bayal Sall	Luis Jiménez 1	Ashkan Dejagah
Al-Gharafa	Johnson Kendrick	Rashid Sumaila	Krisztián Németh	Vladimír Weiss	Han Kook-young
El Jaish	Lucas Mendes	Romarinho	Seydou Keita	Mohammad Mothnani	Sardor Rashidov
Al-Kharaitiyat	Domingos	Lassina Diaby	Anouar Diba	Rachid Tiberkanine	Sanzhar Tursunov	Erik Paartalu Tatá Jeremy Bokila Abdelmoula Berrabah
Al-Khor	Madson	Welinton	Mouhcine Iajour		Sultan Al Enezi
Al-Rayyan	Víctor Cáceres	Sergio García	Gonzalo Viera		Koh Myong-jin
Al-Sadd	Baghdad Bounedjah	Jugurtha Hamroun	Xavi		Morteza Pouraliganji
Al-Sailiya	Dragoș Grigore	Valentin Lazăr	Sanjar Shaakhmedov		Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov	Faouzi Aaish Paul Alo'o Raoul Loé
Al-Shahaniya	Kaled Gourmi	Mehrdad Pooladi	Jean-Paul Késsé Amangoua	Álvaro Mejía	Rahim Zahivi	Mohamed Tiaïba
Al-Wakrah	Prince Ibara	Ali Rehema	Mohsine Moutouali	Youssoupha Mbengué	Sanharib Malki	Pablo Zeballos Pablo Olivera
Lekhwiya	Edgar	Youssef El-Arabi	Chico Flores	Youssef Msakni	Nam Tae-hee
Muaither	Bruno Aguiar	Ahmed Yasin	Wilfried Yessoh		Minori Sato	William Schuster Dioko Kaluyituka Mahmoud Za'tara Matías Mier
Umm Salal	Faouzi Aaish	Alef	Anderson Martins	Yannick Sagbo	Mahmoud Al-Mawas	Tha'er Bawab

^1 Luis Jiménez has Palestinian 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	19	6	1	79	33	+46	63	2018 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Al-Sadd	26	18	7	1	77	23	+54	61
3	Al-Rayyan	26	15	6	5	53	27	+26	51	Qualification to the 2018 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off
4	El Jaish[a]	26	13	6	7	45	40	+5	45
5	Al-Gharafa	26	12	4	10	42	43	−1	40	Qualification to the 2018 AFC Champions League Qualifying play-off
6	Umm Salal	26	9	10	7	32	35	−3	37
7	Al-Kharaitiyat	26	10	4	12	27	32	−5	34
8	Al-Sailiya	26	8	7	11	32	45	−13	31
9	Al-Arabi	26	8	4	14	39	56	−17	28
10	Al-Ahli	26	7	6	13	33	45	−12	27
11	Al-Khor	26	6	7	13	25	38	−13	25
12	Al-Shahaniya	26	3	13	10	30	53	−23	22
13	Muaither (R)	26	5	5	16	23	46	−23	20	Relegation to the 2017–18 Qatargas League
14	Al-Wakrah (R)	26	2	9	15	29	50	−21	15

Updated to match(es) played on 15 April 2017. Source: RSSSF and Qatar Stars League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. El Jaish were merged into Lekhwiya to form Al-Duhail after the 2016–17 season.^[5] As a result, Al-Gharafa, the league 5th place, entered the qualifying play-off.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 15 April 2017^[6]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Youssef El-Arabi	Lekhwiya	24
2	Baghdad Bounedjah	Al-Sadd	23
3	Rodrigo Tabata	Al-Rayyan	20
4	Yannick Sagbo	Umm Salal	15
5	Romarinho	El Jaish	14
	Nam Tae-hee	Lekhwiya
	Sardor Rashidov	El Jaish
8	Mohsine Moutouali	Al-Wakrah	11
	Sergio García	Al-Rayyan
10	Luis Jiménez	Al-Arabi	10
	Meshal Abdullah	Al-Ahli
	Vladimír Weiss	Al-Gharafa
	Xavi	Al-Sadd

Clean sheets

As of 15 April 2017^[7]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Saad Al Sheeb	Al-Sadd	11
2	Omar Bari	Al-Rayyan	9
3	Grégory Gomis	Al-Sailiya	6
	Ahmed Soufiane	Al-Kharaitiyat
	Baba Malick	Umm Salal
	Yousef Hassan	Al-Gharafa
7	Amine Lecomte	Lekhwiya	5
	Saoud Al Khater	El Jaish