Al Sadd will take on Al Kharaitiyat in the season’s Qatar Stars League opening match for both teams at the Al Sadd stadium today. Al Sadd ended last season in third place and secured their spot in the AFC champions league, but they finished without a trophy as well. This season, the Wolves will be hunting for the top spot.
Jesualdo Ferreira, the head coach of Al Sadd, wants his team to get back to winning silverware as their fans are used to. “Every year we go into every competition aiming to win it. However, in the last few years we have failed to win the league and we hope this year we can change that,” Ferreira said.
On pre-season preparations Ferreira added: “We had a summer training camp in Austria and we have been training very hard in Doha as well. Most of my players were with the Qatar national team. I am happy that they are back training with us.”
“We don’t know a lot about Kharaitiyat this season because they got new players. But my players are excited as they haven’t played a competitive match in two months.”
The day’s opening match, however, will be played between Umm Salal and Al Khor. Umm Salal finished last season in fifth place and this season they will aiming to get into the top four positions to secure an AFC Champion League spot.
Bulent Uygun, the head coach of Umm Salal, said that he expects of tough season ahead. “It’s going to be a tough season because four teams are going down instead of two. This will create new challenges for every team.”
“We had a really good training camp and our players are motivated. The beginning of the season is always difficult as Al Khor is a strong team and it will be difficult to beat them,” the Turkish tactician said.
Umm Salal have made some changes in their squad and Uygun is hoping that it will lead to something positive. “Mounir El Hamdaoui and Sanzhar Tursunov were changed and it can be positive or negative and we hope it’s positive,” added the 45-year-old.
On the other hand, Al Khor finished last season in tenth place, avoiding relegation. Jean Fernandez, the head coach of Al Khor is trusting his players to deliver this season.  “We had a very good training camp. We have trust in our players to perform well this season. Umm Salal is a strong team and their coach is with them for a long time that’s why they are a stable team.
“Of course this season is tougher than last season. Fighting relegation is in our mind but what we have to do is to prepare a strong team and fight to remain in the QSL,” said the Frenchman.