The newly-constructed Education City Stadium, Al Gharafa Stadium and Al Ahli Stadium will be the venues. There will be simultaneous kick-offs on both days.
Newly promoted Al Kharaitiyat will face tough opponents Al Sadd in their opening match of the QNB Stars League (QSL) as action of the new season kicks off today.
The Week 1 matches will be played today and tomorrow, with three games on each day.
The newly-constructed Education City Stadium, Al Gharafa Stadium and Al Ahli Stadium will be the venues. There will be simultaneous kick-offs on both days.
Al Kharaitiyat run into strong contenders Al Sadd, who finished third in the recently-concluded 2019-20 season and the team's coach, Yousef Adam, said his aim is to get stabilised first and gradually develop in the following seasons.
“Our ambition in the new season is to get stabilised first and gradually develop in the following seasons. We seek to satisfy everyone in terms of level and positive results,” Adam said during a pre-match press conference yesterday.
About facing the Xavi Hernandez-coached former champions in their opening game today, Adam said: “This match will not be easy because Al Sadd are a big team having distinguished players at the foreign and local levels, and we respect them just as we respect all teams we play against. We study the Al Sadd team well and each team has its strengths and weaknesses."
Al Kharaitiyat earned promotion to the top flight by virtue of being the Second Division champions.
On the other hand, Al Sadd missed out on back to back QSL titles as Al Duhail clinched the Falcon Shield after a thrilling two-way battle between the Walid Regragui's side and Al Rayyan.
Coach Xavi said he and his team are excited to be in the new season and looking for a perfect start.
“We are excited to be in the new season and are ready to compete. We want to start perfectly and we know that we have a difficult match against Al Kharaitiyat, who are returning to the league this season. They are a good team with distinguished professional players and a good coach in Yousef Adam," Xavi said.
“We are targeting a good start, but the league has developed a lot and we look at Al Kharaitiyat’s matches in the same way we look at those of Al Duhail. Our goal is three points and we want to win and play perfectly. Some players came back from their loans and they will help the team. We have new foreigner players who can adapt really well. In my opinion, we have more options than last season to win this competition," Xavi said.
In the second match of the day, Al Sailiya, who finished fifth in the 2019-20 season, face tough opponents in Al Rayyan, the runners-up in the previous tournament. The Lions (51 points) ended up just one point adrift of champions Al Duhail.
Al Gharafa will be on a high, having just finished in the fourth position and earned a berth in the Qatar Cup, when they face Qatar SC, who were placed eighth in the third match on the opening day of the season.
