Doha: Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Al Rayyan will continue to receive the services of their award-winning Uruguayan coach, Jorge Fossati. The club yesterday confirmed that their head coach has signed a new three-year deal to stay with the club till the 2017/2018 season.
Fossati, who is no stranger to football in Qatar after stints with Al Sadd and the Qatar national team, lead Al Rayyan to their first QSL title in twenty one years this term after being hired last summer.
“It is easy to say that I changed the style of football at Al Rayyan when I took over at the beginning of this season. But that would be unfair to the previous coach and the team, who had a good run in the second division in the second half of last season,” Fossati said in an interview with www.sc.qa.
“It would have been crazy to set a target at the beginning of the season to be 18 points ahead at the top of the standings after 20 rounds,” he added.
“Initially the target was to bring back the smiles to the fans and to improve our standards game by game. Then we revised it to a top four finish. It was only three rounds ago that we upgraded to winning the league.”
The former Uruguay coach was declared ‘Coach of the Year’ at the prestigious Qatar Football Awards which was held few days back, and the charismatic coach compared the award to winning the QSL title.
“I am with the same feeling that I got when we won the QSL title. This is my third time and my emotions are same. It was very difficult because of the quality of our sides and other coaches,” Fossati said after receiving the Coach of the Year award.
“This is something I must not receive alone. My full team should be here, my players, the staff, the managers,” he added.
Al Rayyan’s star striker Rodrigo Tabata won the ‘QFA Player of the Year’ award for the second time as Qatar’s football giants accounted for two major awards at the glittering ceremony.
After helping the Lions to bag the QSL title with five games to spare, the Uruguayan tactician will now begin preparation in earnest for Al Rayyan’s preseason training.
The Peninsula
