Doha: Al Sadd secured their 18th Qatar Stars League (QSL) title, marking their second consecutive championship, by decisively defeating Al Ahli 5-0 in an exhilarating final match of Week 22 of the 2024-2025 Ooredoo Stars League season at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Friday.
His Excellency Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, President of the Qatar Football Association and QSL, along with Mr. Hani Taleb Ballan, CEO of QSL, presented the championship trophy to Al Sadd in the presence of His Excellency Eng. Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Vice-President of Al Sadd Club, His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Khalid Al Thani, Board Member of Al Sadd Club, and His Excellency Sheikh Ali bin Jabor Al Thani, CEO of Ooredoo Qatar.
Captain and forward Akram Afif initiated the scoring for The Wolves with a penalty in the 13th minute, followed by goals from Moustafa Tarek in the 44th minute, Paula Otavio in the 45+2 minute, Rafa Mujica in the 67th minute, and Claudinho in the 81st minute, further extending the lead.
This crucial victory allowed Al Sadd to reclaim the prestigious Falcon Shield, concluding the season with 52 points, just ahead of their rivals Al Duhail, who secured a 1-0 victory against Al Khor, finishing with 50 points.
Al Ahli ended up in the top four with 35 points.
With Al Sadd needing a win to be sure of the title, they went up the lead early as Al Ahli’s Talal Abdulla Bahzad fouled while trying to tackle an advancing Afif inside the ‘D’ on the right and near the goalline. The referee initially ruled out a foul but a VAR check showed that Bahzad had stepped on the left-foot of Afif and that the latter was not play-acting. Afif soon stepped up and scored coolly from the spot into the left corner.
A determined Al Ahli tried to make amends, but in the 21st minut,e an Abdelrahman Mohammed strike hit the bottom of the left post.
Fourteen minutes later, Moustafa had another chance as he came face to face with Al Sadd goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham, after being put through with the ball, but in trying to lob the ball over Barsham, the player did too much and the ball sailed over the post.
Al Sadd would not give away any more leeway and hit back strongly just ahead of the half-time whistle.
The lead was doubled after a Claudinho long strike was spilled by Al Ahli goalkeeper Marwan Sherif and a charging in Mashal put the ball into the net.
Al Ahli’s hopes were further dashed within minutes as Otavio deflected home a super Afif cross from the left to make it 3-0.
In the second session, Al Sadd stamped their class and authority further.
Afif again lit up the stadium for his team’s numerous fans as he attempted to score with a left-footed strike in the 66th minute but the kick was well stopped by a diving Sherif. It did not matter as in the very next minute Afif provided Mujica with a fine cross from the right to score (4-0).
Claudinho also joined in the goal-scoring delight as he thumped in a down-headed volley from Paulo Otavio (5-0).
Afif and Mujica ended with 18 goals each, the highest for their team in the league championship. Al Rayyan’s Roger Guedes scored the most, 19 goals. Baghdad Bounedjah of Al Shamal also ended up with 18 goals.
