Al Ahli SC (Doha)

Al Ahli was founded under the name Al Najah Sports Club in 1950, rendering it the oldest surviving sports club in Qatar. Al Najah SC was established by the founders of another club, called Sawt al-Arab, which was subsequently disbanded. The most prominent of the founders was Naji Musaad, the first president of the club. The club's first headquarters was located in Barahat Al Jufairi, in a residential house which was rented at a monthly fee of 70 Indian rupees. In 1964, the club was formally founded under resolution no. 2. Their first match abroad was scheduled to take place against Al Muharraq. After travelling to Bahrain by sea, the club was turned down because their squad comprised foreign players. Instead, they played against Al Nusoor, whom they defeated 3–1.^[1]

In 1972, Al Najah was merged with another local club under its current name, Al Ahli Sports Club. The first board of directors was formed with eight members, and the club's colors were officially decided as green and white.^[1] Early managers after the merger include Mohammed Kheiri, the first manager of Al Ahli Sports Club, Sudanese Abdullah Balash, Lebanese Omar Khatib and Sudanese Hassan Osman.^[2] They played a friendly against Pelé-led Santos in 1973 at Doha Sports Stadium.^[3] In the 1983/84 season, the club received a new headquarters, equipped with modern training and recreational facilities, as did all of the other sports clubs in Qatar.

In September 1985, amidst a heavy debt of QAR 700,000, the club announced that it would not contract with any foreign players for that season to preserve its funds. As a result, five Yugoslavian players it had recently signed for its basketball, handball and volleyball teams would be released. The Ministry of Youth and Sports injected QAR 500,000 and its supporters and members raised over QAR 300,000 to help the club pay off debt and contract professionals.^[4]

In the early nineties, under the presidency of Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani, the club was relegated to the Qatari 2nd Division for the first time in its history. In an attempt to improve its younger generation of players by providing them with invaluable first team experience, the youth team had been given an opportunity to earn promotion back to the first division. They were unsuccessful, and only were runners up that year.^[5]

The club has won one domestic trophy since its formation, the Emir Cup. This competition which was secured four times, with the first triumph coming in the inaugural edition under coach Mohammed Kheiri.^[6]

Al Ahli play their home matches at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium which has a capacity of 12,000 seats.

The club has one of the most consistently high home attendances in the Qatar Stars League. On 11 April 2014, they set a new league record for final match day attendance with 10,142 fans attending the league match against Al Sailiya.^[7]

As of Qatar Stars League:

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  QAT Yazan Naim 2 DF  QAT Eissa El-Nagar 3 DF  QAT Islam Yassine 4 DF  QAT Talal Bahzad 7 MF  GER Julian Draxler 8 MF  CIV Idrissa Doumbia 9 MF  QAT Ali Qadry 10 MF  TUN Naïm Sliti 11 FW  JOR Yazan Al-Naimat 12 FW  QAT Ahmed Al-Sibai (on loan from Al-Sailiya) 13 GK  QAT Mohamed Lingliz 14 MF  EGY Abobakar Bayoumi (on loan from Mesaimeer) 15 DF  QAT Mohammed Emad Aiash (on loan from Al-Duhail) 16 DF  FIN Robin Tihi 17 FW  FRA Sekou Yansané

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  QAT Jassem Mohammed Omar 19 DF  QAT Mohammed Abdelkader 21 MF  QAT Mohammed Al-Ishaq 22 MF  LBY Al Dokali Al Seyed 23 MF  QAT Abdulrasheed Umaru 25 MF  QAT Eslam Abdelkader 26 DF  QAT Yaseen Lafrid 27 MF  QAT Jassem Al-Sharshani 32 FW  QAT Navid Dorzadeh 33 MF  QAT Yassin Jeera 35 GK  QAT Marwan Badreldin 44 MF  QAT Laith Daloul 69 MF  QAT Salam Rahma 77 FW  QAT Nasser Khalfan

As of 10 May 2023^[8]

Seasons Manager Nationality 1972–73 Mohammed Hassan Kheiri 1975–?? Ali Al Attar 1978–?? Helmi Hussein 1 Jul 1982 – 30 Jun 1984 Ivo Wortmann 1984–85 Eid Mubarak 1985–86 Colin Addison 1987–88 Joubert Meira 1988 Sebastião Lazaroni 1991 Zoran Đorđević 1991–93 Paulo Massa 1994–95 Faruk Pašić 1997–98 Abdelkadir Bomir 1998 Heshmat Mohajerani 1998–99 Anatoliy Prokopenko 1999 Abdelkadir Bomir 1999[9] Sead Gruda Abdulqadir Almoghaisab 1999–00 José Robles 2000–01 Cruz 2001 José Robles 2001 Eid Mubarak 1 Jul 2002 – 30 Jun 2003 Carlos Alhinho 2003 Pepe[10] 16 Jul 2004 – 8 Nov 2004 Augusto Inácio 2004–05 Pepe 2005 Oswaldo de Oliveira 2005–Feb 2006 Waldemar Lemos Oswaldo de Oliveira Feb 2006–2006 José Robles[11] 2006 Michel Decastel 2006 Reiner Hollmann

Seasons Manager Nationality 2006–07 José Robles 1 Jul 2007 – 30 Jun 2008 Mark Wotte 2008–09 Erik van der Meer 2009 Mrad Mahjoub 2009 Carlos Manuel 2009 Heron Ricardo Ferreira 2009[12] Abdulqadir Almoghaisab (CT) 2009 Abdullah Mubarak 2009–10 José Robles 2010 Hassan Hormatallah 1 Jul 2010– 10 Sep 2010 Ilija Petković 26 Sep 2010 – 23 Oct 2011 Abdullah Mubarak 23 Oct 2011 – 30 Jun 2012 Bernard Simondi 1 Jul 2012 – 30 Jun 2013 Henri Atamaniuk 1 Jul 2012 – 7 Feb 2015 Milan Máčala 7 Feb 2015 – 1 Feb 2016 Zlatko Kranjčar 1 Feb 2016 – 11 May 2016 Yousuf Adam (interim) 11 May 2016 – 30 Oct 2016 Luka Bonačić 30 Oct 2016 – 1 Jun 2017 Yousuf Adam 2 Jun 2017 – 27 Dec 2017 Joaquín Caparrós 1 Jan 2018 – Jun 2018 Jorge Peris Jun 2018 Yusef Ahmad Baker (interim)[13] Jun 2018 – Dec 2018 Milan Máčala 14 Dec 2018 – 18 Nov 2019 Rubén de la Barrera 1 Dec 2019 – 14 Sep 2023 Nebojša Jovović

Last update: 2 June 2017.^[14]

As of February 2012.

No.	Chairperson	No.	Chairperson
1	Naji Musaad	8	Abdullah Mohammed Ghurery
2	Sheikh Mubarak bin Ahmed Al-Thani	9	Ali bin Ali Ahmed
3	Sheikh Ali bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani	10	Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Nasser Al-Thani
4	Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani	11	Abdullah Ahmad Hashemi
5	Sultan bin Sultan	12	Mohammed Kadhim Ibrahim
6	Abdulaziz Fahad Bozzoer	13	Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Thani
7	Abdulqadir Al Moghaisib	14	Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Thani

Last update: 19 June 2023.
Players whose names are in bold are still active with the club.

Most goals

#	Nat.	Name	League Goals	Years active
1		Meshal Abdullah	118	1999–2007, 2008–2010, 2013–2019
2		Dioko Kaluyituka	60	2011–2015
3		Alboury Lah	29	1995–1998
4		Caló	26	2002–2006
5		Ndombe Mubele	16	2015–2017
6		Nabil El Zhar	15	2019–2021
7		Mojtaba Jabbari	15	2013–2017
8		Juma Mossi	15	2001–2002
9		Wagner Ribeiro	13	2009–2011
10		Badar Al-Maimani	12	2005–2007
		Sérgio Ricardo		2005–2006

• UAFA Club Cup: 2 appearances

2003/04: First round

2007/08: First round

• Asian Cup Winners Cup: 2 appearances

1992/93: First Round

1998/99: Second Round

Year	Tournament	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1993	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	Group stage	Al-Arabi	0–0	0–1	0–1
1999	Asian Cup Winners' Cup	1	Nejmeh	w.o.1	0–0	0–0
		2	Al-Ittihad	0–0	1–7	1–7

1. Al Nejmeh SC withdrew from the tournament.

• Emir of Qatar Cup
  • Winners (4): 1973, 1981, 1987, 1992
  • Runners-up (5): 1975, 1984, 1985, 1998, 2003
• Sheikh Jassem Cup
  • Runners-up (2): 1999, 2006
• Qatari 2nd Division
  • Winners (1): 2012

• Official website