Doha: Excitement, thrill and top-notch action are guaranteed in the new season of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) which will kick off next month.
According to the official announcement yesterday, QSL, the highest professional football league in the country is set to kick off on September 15 when Al Ahli entertain Al Gharafa at the Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium 6pm kick off).
Later on in the 20:10 KO, Al Sailiya will face off against Al Arabi in what will be the first taste of QSL action for new Al Arabi coach Gerardo Pelusso in the same venue.
Other highlights from the first weekend of action include reigning QSL champions Al Rayyan taking on newly promoted Al Shahaniya on September 17 at Jassim bin Hamad stadium.
Whilst El Jaish, who finished last season in second place will take on Al Wakrah on September 18 at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium which will bring to an end the first round of action. Whilst the second round is set to start on the September 22, with highlights being big spending Al Arabi taking on El Jaish at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
Xavi’s Al Sadd will have a tough home fixture against Al Ahli on September 23.
The second week’s action of the QSL comes to a close when Al Gharafa welcomes Lekhwiya to the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.
The league will then take a short break for the upcoming 2018 World Cup Qualifiers and resume on October 14.
With the QSL formally announcing the fixtures for the 2016/2017 season, The Peninsula had a closer look at the process and reasoning behind the fixtures being chosen with a conversation with the QSL sport department.
The principle of the fixtures is that the top 7 teams of last year’s QSL will face the bottom 7 of the QSL including the two promoted teams.
Whilst following this fixtures have been given in such a way to ensure that all teams will face mixed abilities over the course of the new season.
So for example, you will not have a scenario where the top four sides from last season will play their top four rivals in two consecutive matches.
Sides have been drawn in such a way that they will not have more than 2 consecutive matches either home or away to ensure fairness. The sport department was eager to stress that the fixtures where not chosen by the names of the sides, rather than their ranking last term.
El Jaish, who are Qatar’s only representative in the AFC Champions League, will play the last game of round 1 on Sunday so to give them appropriate time to recover. Should El Jaish progress further in the continental competition, then appropriate changes will be made to the schedule with all parties involved being informed accordingly.
The timings of the 2016/2107 QSL season have been carefully considered, around Maghreb Prayer time.
From rounds 1-6 the season will be running on summer time, meaning that players and officials will have the chance to pray after the final minutes of their sides warm up. Accordingly, the evening kick offs will start approximately 2 hours and 10 minutes after the first match.
Whilst from round 7 the timing will revert to a winter format, meaning an earlier start to matches, with Maghreb prayers falling in-between halftime.
This will ensure that all players and officials have the chance to pray, as per the Islamic traditions of the state of Qatar.
Finally, the 2016/2017 QSL fixtures was the first time that the league sent a draft copy to all 14 QSL sides for appropriate feedback.
Of the sides contacted, Al Sadd, Lekhwiya and Al Sailiya all sent official letters on their comments; Whilst Al Kharitiyat and Al Shahaniya raised informal questions on the schedule.
In the spirit of fairness the QSL sports team reached out to all concerned parties and shared their reasoning, and eventually led to the final approved fixture list, which was distributed yesterday, 43 days prior to the start of the QSL season.
The Peninsula
