Qatari Football to Have Rich Calendar in 2024-2025 Season

Doha: Qatari football clubs and national teams are gearing up for a busy schedule of tournaments and matches in the 2024-2025 season, which will feature both domestic and international engagements. Kicking off on August 9, the new season will take off with the Ooredoo Stars League, followed by the Qatar Cup, and HH the Amir Cup. The season's calendar will also include the preliminary rounds of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League in August, as well as the 3rd stage of the AFC Asian qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, something that necessitates early preparation. Qatari clubs will face new challenges when it comes to AFC competitions, when Qatar's league champions, Al Sadd, and the runner-up, Al Rayyan, through two direct spots, make their entry into the AFC Champions League Elite, which will see 24 clubs compete, 12 clubs from East Asia and 12 from West Asia, with each club playing against eight different opponents within their region, in four home and four away matches. The group stage will take place from September 16 to February 19, 2025. The Round of 16 will be held from March 3-12, with the final stage taking place from April 25 to May 4. Saudi Arabia will be the host of the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 finals. Ranking third domestically, Al Gharafa will partake in the preliminary round, facing the winner of the match between Iran's Sepahan FC and UAE's Shabab Al Ahli, which will be held at Al Bayt Stadium on August 13. Winning teams in the preliminary round advance directly to the league stage, while losing teams move to the AFC Champions League 2 group stage. The official draw ceremony for the AFC Champions League Elite group stage will take place at the AFC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 16. Al Wakrah, ranked fourth in the Qatari League, hopes to achieve good results in their group stage journey in the AFC Champions League 2 tournament, which features thirty-two clubs competing in the group stage from September 16, 2024, to February 19, 2025. Al Arabi, ranked fifth in the Qatari League last season, will participate in the Gulf Cooperation Council Club Cup, a newly established tournament by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation, held in a home-and-away format from September 24 to April 25, 2025. Qatar's first football team is preparing to compete in the third round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, after the draw placed it in Group A, alongside the teams of Iran, Uzbekistan, the UAE, Kyrgyzstan, and North Korea. The team will begin their matches by facing UAE in Doha on Sep. 5, after which they will face North Korea away on Sep. 10, before facing the Kyrgyz national team at home on Oct. 10, then heading to Tehran to face Iran away on Oct. 15. It will then host the Uzbek national team in Doha on Nov. 14 at the end of the first round. Qatar team will begin the second round by facing the UAE away on Nov. 19, before hosting North Korea on March 20, 2025. Then the team will meet the Kyrgyz team on Nov. 25 and return to host Iran on June 5, 2025. The tea m will conclude the third round by facing the Uzbek national team away in Tashkent on June 10. Next season, the Qatar team will also participate in the Gulf Cup (Gulf 26), scheduled in Kuwait from Dec 21, 2024, to Jan. 3, 2025. Following the resounding success of organizing the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Doha will be on the verge of an important event in 2025, after FIFA decided to assign the organization of the next five editions of the U-17 World Cup to the State of Qatar, with the participation of 48 teams for the first time. The tournament will be held annually until 2029. Qatar will host the Group F qualifiers for the 2025 AFC U-17 Championship, which will be held between Oct. 19 - 27, 2024, where the draw was drawn for the Qatar junior national team alongside Japan, the defending champion and four times winner of the tournament, and both the Mongolia and Nepal national teams. The Qatar U-20 team will participate in the AFC U20 Asian Cup China 2025 in Group J alongside Jordan, Singapore, and Hong Kon g. Doha will host the group qualifiers from Dec. 21-29, 2024. Source: Qatar News Agency