# 2018–19 Qatar Stars League

The 2018–19 Qatari League, also known as Qatar Stars League or QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, was the 46th edition of top-level football championship in Qatar.
The QSL has announced the dates of the first phase of the 2018–19 QNB Stars League. The first phase of the QNB Stars League kicked off on 4 August 2018 and ended on 4 November 2018. The league ended on 13 April 2019.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Club | City/Town | Stadium |
| Al-Ahli | Doha | Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Arabi | Doha | Grand Hamad Stadium |
| Al-Duhail | Doha | Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Gharafa | Doha | Thani bin Jassim Stadium |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | Al Khor | Al-Khor SC Stadium |
| Al-Khor | Al Khor | Al-Khor SC Stadium |
| Al-Rayyan | Al-Rayyan | Ahmed bin Ali Stadium |
| Al-Sadd | Doha | Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium |
| Al-Sailiya | Doha | Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Shahaniya | Al-Shahaniya | Ahmed bin Ali Stadium |
| Qatar SC | Doha | Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani |
| Umm Salal | Doha | Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium |

### Personnel and kits

| Club | Coach | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Al-Ahli | Rubén de la Barrera | Jako | N/A |
| Al-Arabi | Heimir Hallgrímsson | Jako | Doha Bank |
| Al-Duhail | Rui Faria | BURRDA | Mashraf Al Rayan |
| Al-Gharafa | Christian Gourcuff | Erreà | N/A |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | Wesam Rizik | Hummel | Oryx GTL |
| Al-Khor | Omar Najhi | Macron | N/A |
| Al-Rayyan | Gilson de Souza | Nike | QIC |
| Al-Sadd | Jesualdo Ferreira | Puma | Qatar Airways |
| Al-Sailiya | Sami Trabelsi | Adidas | UCC Qatar Islamic Bank |
| Al-Shahaniya | José Murcia | Adidas | N/A |
| Qatar SC | Sergio Batista | Puma | N/A |
| Umm Salal | Raúl Caneda | Adidas | N/A |

### Foreign players

Each clubs are allowed to have nine foreign players but can only register five professionals. For the remainder of the season, each clubs can include one player from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and one player from Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA).
* Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
* Players in italics were out of squad or left club within the season, after pre-season transfer window, or in the mid-season transfer window, and at least had one appearance.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC Player | UAFA Player | Former players |
| Al-Ahli | Jonathan McDonald | Nigel de Jong | Jhon Chancellor | Omid Ebrahimi | Mohsine Moutouali | Mohammad Reza Khanzadeh |
| Al-Arabi | Diego Jardel | Wilfried Bony | Víctor Vázquez | Morteza Pouraliganji | Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf | Mailson Franco Arizala |
| Al-Duhail | Edmilson Junior | Medhi Benatia | Youssef El-Arabi | Shoya Nakajima | | Lucas Mendes Nam Tae-hee |
| Al-Gharafa | Lucas Mendes | Diogo Amado | Vladimír Weiss | Mehdi Taremi | | Wesley Sneijder |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | Charles Monsalvo | Anouar Diba | Valentin Lazăr | Ali Faez | Ilias Hassani | Jugurtha Hamroun |
| Al-Khor | Tiago Bezerra | Wágner | Willians Santana | Alexander Michel Melki | Aymen Trabelsi | Diogo Acosta Ahmed Yasin Ghani Rebin Sulaka |
| Al-Rayyan | Lucca | Gonzalo Viera | Gelmin Rivas | Koh Myong-jin | | Jony |
| Al-Sadd | Baghdad Bounedjah | Gabi | Xavi | Jung Woo-young | | |
| Al-Sailiya | Nadir Belhadj | Maurício Ramos | Rachid Tiberkanine | Fahd Youssef | Bilel Saidani | |
| Al-Shahaniya | Luciano Vázquez | Jean-Paul Késsé Amangoua | Álvaro Mejía | Ramin Rezaeian | Rebin Sulaka | Nadhir Awadh |
| Qatar SC | Jugurtha Hamroun | Dodô | Samuel Eto'o | Hussein Ali Al-Saedi | Baha' Abdel-Rahman | Osama Omari |
| Umm Salal | Anderson Conceição | Tinga | Yannick Sagbo | Mahmoud Al-Mawas | Mourad Satli | Arnold Mvuemba Adil Rhaili |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Al-Sadd (C) | 22 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 100 | 22 | +78 | 57 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage and FIFA Club World Cup first round |
| 2 | Al-Duhail | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 52 | 17 | +35 | 50 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Al-Sailiya | 22 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 38 | 26 | +12 | 38 | Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round |
| 4 | Al-Rayyan | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 34 | 31 | +3 | 37 | Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Al-Ahli | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 32 | 39 | −7 | 34 | |
| 6 | Al-Arabi | 22 | 10 | 0 | 12 | 27 | 41 | −14 | 30 | |
| 7 | Al-Shahaniya | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 26 | 34 | −8 | 27 | |
| 8 | Al-Gharafa | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 35 | 39 | −4 | 26 | |
| 9 | Umm Salal | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 24 | 44 | −20 | 23 | |
| 10 | Al-Khor | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 22 | 36 | −14 | 20 | |
| 11 | Qatar SC (O) | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 20 | 42 | −22 | 16 | Qualification for Relegation play-off |
| 12 | Al-Kharaitiyat (R) | 22 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 19 | 58 | −39 | 15 | Relegation to Qatargas League |
* ↑ The league champions will qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup first round unless the 2019 AFC Champions League winners are from Qatar.
* ↑ Al-Duhail qualified for the AFC Champions League group stage as Emir of Qatar Cup winners.

## Results

| Home \ Away | SAD | DUH | SAI | RAY | AHL | ARA | SHA | GHA | UMM | KHO | QAT | KHA |
| Al-Sadd | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 7–2 | 10–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 6–1 | 6–2 | 8–1 | 7–1 |
| Al-Duhail | 2–2 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Al-Sailiya | 0–2 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 5–2 |
| Al-Rayyan | 0–4 | 2–2 | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 2–1 |
| Al-Ahli | 4–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Al-Arabi | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Al-Shahaniya | 1–4 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| Al-Gharafa | 1–8 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | | 2–3 | 6–0 | 1–3 | 0–2 |
| Umm Salal | 1–5 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–3 | 2–5 | 2–1 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Al-Khor | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 3–1 | 4–0 |
| Qatar SC | 1–5 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 2–0 |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | 0–6 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 0–6 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–5 | 1–0 | |

### Positions by round

* Leader : 2020 AFC Champions League Group stage
* 2020 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
* Relegation to 2019-20 Qatargas League
| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| Al-Sadd | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Al-Duhail | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Al-Sailiya | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Al-Rayyan | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Al-Ahli | 10 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Al-Arabi | 6 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Al-Shahania | 11 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| Al-Gharafa | 9 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 |
| Umm Salal | 7 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
| Al-Khor | 8 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Qatar SC | 3 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |

## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | 39 |
| 2 | Youssef El-Arabi | Al-Duhail | 26 |
| 2 | Akram Afif | Al-Sadd | 26 |
| 4 | Rachid Tiberkanine | Al-Sailiya | 13 |
| 4 | Abdulgadir Ilyas Bakur | Al-Sailiya | 13 |
| 6 | Hassan Al-Haydos | Al-Sadd | 10 |
| 7 | Yannick Sagbo | Umm Salal | 9 |
| 7 | Rodrigo Tabata | Al-Rayyan | 9 |
| 9 | Luciano Vázquez | Al-Shahaniya | 8 |
| 9 | Wágner | Al-Khor | 8 |
| 9 | Mehdi Taremi | Al-Gharafa | 8 |
| 9 | Vladimír Weiss | Al-Gharafa | 8 |
| 9 | Mahmoud Al-Mawas | Umm Salal | 8 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | Al-Kharaitiyat | 6–0 | 5 August 2018 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah$^7$ | Al-Sadd | Al-Arabi | 10–1 | 12 August 2018 |
| Rachid Tiberkanine | Al-Sailiya | Al-Kharaitiyat | 5–0 | 4 November 2018 |
| Youssef El-Arabi | Al-Duhail SC | Al-Shahaniya | 5–1 | 8 November 2018 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | Al-Kharaitiyat | 7–1 | 8 November 2018 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | Al-Gharafa | 8–1 | 2 December 2018 |
| Akram Afif | Al-Sadd | Al-Gharafa | 8–1 | 2 December 2018 |
| Akram Afif | Al-Sadd | Al-Khor | 6–2 | 16 February 2019 |
| Akram Afif | Al-Sadd | Qatar SC | 8–1 | 28 February 2019 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | Qatar SC | 8–1 | 28 February 2019 |
| Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | Al-Ahli | 7–2 | 4 April 2019 |

#### Note

$^7$ Player scored 7 goals

## Team of the Year

| No | Position | Player | Club |
| 1 | Goalkeeper | Saad Al-Sheeb | Al-Sadd |
| 2 | Defender | Hamid Ismail | Al-Sadd |
| 3 | Defender | Boualem Khoukhi | Al-Sadd |
| 4 | Defender | Bassam Al-Rawi | Al-Duhail |
| 5 | Defender | Abdelkarim Hassan | Al-Sadd |
| 6 | Midfielder | Karim Boudiaf | Al-Duhail |
| 7 | Midfielder | Abdulaziz Hatem | Al-Gharafa |
| 8 | Midfielder | Rodrigo Tabata | Al-Rayyan |
| 9 | Midfielder | Hassan Al-Haydos | Al-Sadd |
| 10 | Forward | Akram Afif | Al-Sadd |
| 11 | Forward | Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd |