# Al Ahli SC (Doha)

Al Ahli SC (Arabic: النادي الأهلي الرياضي), also known as Al Ahli Doha is a Qatari multi-sport club based in Doha. It is most notable for its professional association football section. Their home ground is the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium. Founded in 1950, it is the oldest sports club in Qatar.

## History

Al Ahli was founded under the name Al Najah Sports Club in 1950, rendering it the oldest surviving sports club in Qatar. Al Najah SC was established by the founders of another club, called Sawt al-Arab, which was subsequently disbanded. The most prominent of the founders was Naji Musaad, the first president of the club. The club's first headquarters was located in Barahat Al Jufairi, in a residential house which was rented at a monthly fee of 70 Indian rupees. In 1964, the club was formally founded under resolution no. 2. Their first match abroad was scheduled to take place against Al Muharraq. After travelling to Bahrain by sea, the club was turned down because their squad comprised foreign players. Instead, they played against Al Nusoor, whom they defeated 3–1.
In 1972, Al Najah was merged with another local club under its current name, Al Ahli Sports Club. The first board of directors was formed with eight members, and the club's colors were officially decided as green and white. Early managers after the merger include Mohammed Kheiri, the first manager of Al Ahli Sports Club, Sudanese Abdullah Balash, Lebanese Omar Khatib and Sudanese Hassan Osman. They played a friendly against Pelé-led Santos in 1973 at Doha Sports Stadium. In the 1983/84 season, the club received a new headquarters, equipped with modern training and recreational facilities, as did all of the other sports clubs in Qatar.
In September 1985, amidst a heavy debt of QAR 700,000, the club announced that it would not contract with any foreign players for that season to preserve its funds. As a result, five Yugoslavian players it had recently signed for its basketball, handball and volleyball teams would be released. The Ministry of Youth and Sports injected QAR 500,000 and its supporters and members raised over QAR 300,000 to help the club pay off debt and contract professionals.
In the early nineties, under the presidency of Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani, the club was relegated to the Qatari 2nd Division for the first time in its history. In an attempt to improve its younger generation of players by providing them with invaluable first team experience, the youth team had been given an opportunity to earn promotion back to the first division. They were unsuccessful, and only were runners up that year.
The club has won one domestic trophy since its formation, the Emir Cup. This competition which was secured four times, with the first triumph coming in the inaugural edition under coach Mohammed Kheiri.

## Stadium

Al Ahli play their home matches at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium which has a capacity of 12,000 seats.

## Supporters

The club has one of the most consistently high home attendances in the Qatar Stars League. On 11 April 2014, they set a new league record for final match day attendance with 10,142 fans attending the league match against Al Sailiya.

## Players

As of Qatar Stars League:
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | QAT | Yazan Naim |
| 2 | DF | QAT | Eissa El-Nagar $^{U21}$ |
| 3 | DF | QAT | Islam Yassine |
| 4 | DF | QAT | Talal Bahzad |
| 5 | DF | CRO | Matej Mitrović |
| 6 | DF | QAT | Bahaa Ellethy (on loan from Qatar) |
| 7 | MF | GER | Julian Draxler |
| 8 | MF | CIV | Idrissa Doumbia |
| 9 | FW | GUI | Sekou Yansané |
| 10 | FW | ESP | Erik Expósito |
| 11 | MF | QAT | Abdelrahman Moustafa (on loan from Al-Duhail) |
| 12 | FW | QAT | Ahmed Al-Sibai |
| 13 | GK | QAT | Mohamed Lingliz |
| 15 | DF | QAT | Ali Shahabi $^{U21}$ |
| 16 | DF | FIN | Robin Tihi |
| 18 | DF | QAT | Jassem Mohammed Omar |
| 19 | DF | QAT | Mohammed Abdelkader |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | QAT | Hamad Mansour |
| 21 | DF | QAT | Mohammed Al-Ishaq $^{U21}$ |
| 23 | MF | QAT | Abdulrasheed Umaru |
| 24 | MF | QAT | Ahmed Azhari |
| 25 | MF | QAT | Eslam Abdelkader |
| 26 | DF | QAT | Yaseen Lafrid |
| 27 | MF | QAT | Jassem Al-Sharshani |
| 30 | GK | QAT | Ali Asghar $^{U21}$ |
| 32 | FW | QAT | Navid Dorzadeh |
| 33 | MF | MAR | Driss Fettouhi (on loan from Al-Markhiya) |
| 35 | GK | QAT | Marwan Badreldin |
| 38 | FW | QAT | Yassin Gaira $^{U21}$ |
| 45 | DF | QAT | Yousef Marei $^{U21}$ |
| 69 | MF | QAT | Salam Rahma $^{U21}$ |
| 70 | MF | QAT | Younes Abdelrahman $^{U21}$ |
| 80 | FW | QAT | Noureldan Tamer $^{U21}$ |
| 99 | GK | QAT | Aboubakr Abdelrahman $^{U21}$ |

### Out on loans

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | QAT | Ali Qadry (on loan to Al-Rayyan) |

## Managerial history

    As of 10 May 2023
| Seasons | Manager |
| 1972–73 | Mohammed Hassan Kheiri |
| 1975–?? | Ali Al Attar |
| 1978–?? | Helmi Hussein |
| 1 Jul 1982 – 30 Jun 1984 | Ivo Wortmann |
| 1984–85 | Eid Mubarak |
| 1985–86 | Colin Addison |
| 1987–88 | Joubert Meira |
| 1988 | Sebastião Lazaroni |
| 1991 | Zoran Đorđević |
| 1991–93 | Paulo Massa |
| 1994–95 | Faruk Pašić |
| 1997–98 | Abdelkadir Bomir |
| 1998 | Heshmat Mohajerani |
| 1998–99 | Anatoliy Prokopenko |
| 1999 | Abdelkadir Bomir |
| 1999 | Sead Gruda Abdulqadir Almoghaisab |
| 1999–00 | José Robles |
| 2000–01 | Cruz |
| 2001 | José Robles |
| 2001 | Eid Mubarak |
| 1 Jul 2002 – 30 Jun 2003 | Carlos Alhinho |
| 2003 | Pepe |
| 16 Jul 2004 – 8 Nov 2004 | Augusto Inácio |
| 2004–05 | Pepe |
| 2005 | Oswaldo de Oliveira |
| 2005–Feb 2006 | Waldemar Lemos Oswaldo de Oliveira |
| Feb 2006–2006 | José Robles |
| 2006 | Michel Decastel |
| 2006 | Reiner Hollmann |
| Seasons | Manager |
| 2006–07 | José Robles |
| 1 Jul 2007 – 30 Jun 2008 | Mark Wotte |
| 2008–09 | Erik van der Meer |
| 2009 | Mrad Mahjoub |
| 2009 | Carlos Manuel |
| 2009 | Heron Ricardo Ferreira |
| 2009 | Abdulqadir Almoghaisab (CT) |
| 2009 | Abdullah Mubarak |
| 2009–10 | José Robles |
| 2010 | Hassan Hormatallah |
| 1 Jul 2010– 10 Sep 2010 | Ilija Petković |
| 26 Sep 2010 – 23 Oct 2011 | Abdullah Mubarak |
| 23 Oct 2011 – 30 Jun 2012 | Bernard Simondi |
| 1 Jul 2012 – 30 Jun 2013 | Henri Atamaniuk |
| 1 Jul 2012 – 7 Feb 2015 | Milan Máčala |
| 7 Feb 2015 – 1 Feb 2016 | Zlatko Kranjčar |
| 1 Feb 2016 – 11 May 2016 | Yousuf Adam (interim) |
| 11 May 2016 – 30 Oct 2016 | Luka Bonačić |
| 30 Oct 2016 – 1 Jun 2017 | Yousuf Adam |
| 2 Jun 2017 – 27 Dec 2017 | Joaquín Caparrós |
| 1 Jan 2018 – Jun 2018 | Jorge Peris |
| Jun 2018 | Yusef Ahmad Baker (interim) |
| Jun 2018 – Dec 2018 | Milan Máčala |
| 14 Dec 2018 – 18 Nov 2019 | Rubén de la Barrera |
| 1 Dec 2019 – 14 Sep 2023 | Nebojša Jovović |

## Al Ahli club staff

Last update: 2 June 2017.
Senior team :
| Technical staff ||
| Head coach | Igor Bišćan |
| Assistant coach | Ivan Hucko Khalid Taj |
| Head of transatlantic relations | Samuel Alger |
| Medical staff ||
| Head of clinic | Dr Tawfiq |
| Team doctor | Sokryi |
| Physiotherapist | Anselmo |
| Physiotherapist | Assad Ammari |
| Team staff ||
| Director of reserve team | Majed Saeed |
| Director of administration | Abdulaziz Hamza |
| Director of football | Ibrahim Al Karaniris |
| Deputy director of football | Khalid Shabib |
| Director of sports affairs | Abdullah Jassim |
| Director of sport marketing | Yaqoub Nasser |
| ATI Systems | Youssef Bizzou |
Youth teams :
| Technical staff ||
| U23 manager | Hassan Khalil Ahmed |
| U23 head coach | Ivan Hucko |
| U23 assistant coach | Hussein Baqir |
| U16 head coach | John Lake |
| U16 assistant coach | Abdulredha Hussein |
Youth teams :
| Medical staff ||
| Physiotherapist | Islam Salahuddin |
| Physiotherapist | Ihab Abdelfatah |
| Team staff ||
| Head of youth teams | Fahad Al Wadanaa |
| Deputy head of youth teams | Ahmad Sayyar |

## Club officials
### Board

| Position | Staff |
| President | Abdulla Yousef Al-Mulla |
| Vice-president | Mohammed Abdulla Al-Mustafawi Al-Hashemi |
| General secretary | Aref Abdulrahman |
Last updated: February 2012 Source: Board of Directors

## Club presidents

As of February 2012.
| No. | Chairperson | No. | Chairperson |
| 1 | Naji Musaad | 8 | Abdullah Mohammed Ghurery |
| 2 | Sheikh Mubarak bin Ahmed Al-Thani | 9 | Ali bin Ali Ahmed |
| 3 | Sheikh Ali bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani | 10 | Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Nasser Al-Thani |
| 4 | Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani | 11 | Abdullah Ahmad Hashemi |
| 5 | Sultan bin Sultan | 12 | Mohammed Kadhim Ibrahim |
| 6 | Abdulaziz Fahad Bozzoer | 13 | Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani |
| 7 | Abdulqadir Al Moghaisib | 14 | Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Thani |

## Records and statistics
### Player statistics

Last update: 10 December 2024. Players whose names are in bold are still active with the club.
Most goals :
| # | Name | League Goals | Years active |
| 1 | Meshal Abdullah | 120 | 1999–2007, 2008–2010, 2013–2019 |
| 2 | Dioko Kaluyituka | 60 | 2011–2015 |
| 3 | Alboury Lah | 29 | 1995–1998 |
| 4 | Caló | 26 | 2002–2006 |
| 5 | Ndombe Mubele | 16 | 2015–2017 |
| 6 | Nabil El Zhar | 15 | 2019–2021 |
| 7 | Mojtaba Jabbari | 15 | 2013–2017 |
| 8 | Juma Mossi | 15 | 2001–2002 |
| 9 | Wagner Ribeiro | 13 | 2009–2011 |
| 10 | Badar Al-Maimani | 12 | 2005–2007 |
| 10 | Sérgio Ricardo | 12 | 2005–2006 |

### Performance in UAFA competitions

* UAFA Club Cup: 2 appearances
       2003/04: First round
       2007/08: First round

### Performance in AFC competitions

* Asian Cup Winners Cup: 2 appearances
       1992/93: First Round
       1998/99: Second Round

### Asian record

| Year | Tournament | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 1993 | Asian Cup Winners' Cup | Group stage | Al-Arabi | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| 1999 | Asian Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | Nejmeh | w.o.$^1$ | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| 1999 | Asian Cup Winners' Cup | 2 | Al-Ittihad | 0–0 | 1–7 | 1–7 |
1. Al Nejmeh SC withdrew from the tournament.

## Honours

* Emir of Qatar Cup
** Winners (4): 1973, 1981, 1987, 1992
** Runners-up (5): 1975, 1984, 1985, 1998, 2003
* Sheikh Jassem Cup
** Runners-up (2): 1999, 2006
* Qatari 2nd Division
** Winners (1): 2012