# 2009–10 Qatar Stars League

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.
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

| 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 |
| 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 | Caio Junior | July 2009 |
| Al Ahli | Carlos Manuel | Contract not renewed | Richardo | July 2009 |
| Al-Rayyan | Paulo Autuori | Contract not renewed | Marcos Paquetá | July 2009 |
| Al Ahli | Richardo | Contract not renewed | Cesa | November 2009 |
| Al-Rayyan | Marcos Paquetá | Sacked | Paulo Autuori | November 2009 |
| Al-Shamal | Robertinho | Sacked | Alain Michel | November 2009 |
| Umm-Salal Sports Club | Gerard Gili | Sacked | 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 |
| 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 |
* ↑ 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 | |

## Top scorers
### 21 goals

* Younis Mahmoud (Al-Gharafa)
* Cabore (Al-Arabi)

### 20 goals

* Leandro (Al-Sadd)

### 17 goals

* Adil Ramzi (Al Wakra)

### 15 goals

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

### 11 goals

* Magno Alves (Umm-Salal Sports Club)

### 10 goals

* Alaa Abdul-Zahra (Al-Kharitiyath Sports Club)
* Afonso Alves (Al-Sadd and Al-Rayyan)

### 9 goals

* Júlio César (Al-Ahli (Doha))