2009–10 Qatar Stars League

Qatar Stars League
Season	2009–10
Champions	Al-Gharafa
Relegated	Al-Shamal
	← 2008–09 2010–11 →

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

League expansion

The 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 the Qatari League 2009-10 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 Qatari League 2008-09 season, due to expansion reasons. The announcement was made with only one game remaining.^[1]

The expansion benefited relegated Al Kharatiyat, who will now stay in the first division, and will be joined by two second division clubs Al Ahli and Al Shamal, to bring the number up to 12.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifah 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.

Stadia and locations

Doha

Umm Salal

Al Rayyan

Al Wakrah

Al Khor

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Locations of teams in the 2009-10 Qatari League

Club	City/Town	Stadium
Al-Gharrafa	Doha	Al-Gharafa Stadium
Al-Sadd	Doha	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
Umm-Salal Sports Club	Umm Salal	Thani bin Jassim Stadium
Qatar Sports Club	Doha	Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium
Al Rayyan Sports Club	Al Rayyan	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium
Al-Arabi Sports Club	Doha	Grand Hamad Stadium
Al-Khor Sports Club	Al Khor	Al-Khawr Stadium
Al-Sailiya Sport Club	Al Sailiya	Grand Hamad Stadium^[2]
Al Wakrah	Al Wakrah	Al-Wakrah Stadium
Al Khuratiyat SC	Al Khuraitiyat	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium
Al-Shamal	Madinat ash Shamal	Al-Shamal SC Stadium
Al-Ahli Sports Club	Doha	Al-Ahly Stadium

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Reason of departure	Replaced by	Date Replaced
Al-Gharrafa	Marcos Paqueta	Contract not renewed ^[3]	Caio Junior	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	Contract not renewed ^[6]	Cesa	November 2009
Al-Rayyan	Marcos Paquetá	Sacked ^[7]	Paulo Autuori	November 2009
Al-Shamal	Robertinho	Sacked ^[8]	Alain Michel	November 2009
Umm-Salal Sports Club	Gerard Gili	Sacked ^[9]	Henk Ten Cate	March 2010

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	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	Leonardo Pisculichi	Caboré	Daniel Carvalho	Kim	Igor Novaković	Salman Isa
Al-Gharafa	Clemerson	Juninho Pernambucano	Otmane El Assas			Younis Mahmoud
Al-Kharitiyath	Yahia Kébé	Youness Mankari	Dario Khan			Alaa Abdul-Zahra	Souleymane Keïta
Al-Khor	Sayed Mohamed Adnan	Abdoulaye Cissé	Moumouni Dagano	Moussa Pokong		Salam Shaker	Rafik Saïfi
Al-Rayyan	Afonso Alves	Marcelo Tavares	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	Zé Adriano	Bong Bertrand	Elbekay Bouchiba	Yamen Ben Zekry	Adel Humoud	Lima Samer Saeed
Al-Sailiya	Faouzi Aaish	Dennis Souza	Jean-Emmanuel Effa Owona	Babou Sidiki	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	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 Kharitiyath	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 Wakra	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:

^ Qualified by winning the 2010 Emir of Qatar Cup.

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

Qatar Stars League 2009–10 winners
Al-Gharrafa 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 Wakra	1–3	0–4	1–4	0–1	3–2	4–1		1–1	0–1	1–2	7–0	5–2
Al Kharitiyath	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.