Al Duhail's players and officials celebrate after winning the 2018 Qatar Cup trophy in this file photo.
The Qatar Stars League (QSL) yesterday unveiled the schedule of 2020 Qatar Cup which will see the top four teams in QNB Stars League’s 2018-19 season vying for honours in the much anticipated tournament.
The Qatar Cup is played on a knock-out format and involves the top four finishing teams of the regular QNB Stars League season.
Al Sadd, Al Duhail, Al Sailiya and Al Rayyan will compete in the 2020 edition of the tournament which is considered as the pinnacle of the League and is one of most prestigious events on the sporting calendar of the country.
The defending champions, Al Duhail will meet Al Sailiya in the first semi-final of the tournament on January 10, and second semi-final featuring Al Sadd and Al Rayyan will be played on the next day.
The final is scheduled for January 17.
All matches will be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. The kick-off is at 19:30 on all days.
In the event of a tie between the teams at the end of regular time, there will be no extra time and penalty shoot-out will be straightaway enforced.
The Qatar Cup tournament did not take place this season due to the busy schedule of the football calendar.
The decision was taken after taking into consideration the need to give adequate rest to the players ahead of their global and continental challenges, both at the national teams and clubs levels.
The first edition of the tournament was held during the 1994/1995 season and was known as the Heir Apparent Cup and was later re-named as the Qatar Cup.
Meanwhile, the QSL officials yesterday held a technical meeting ahead of QNB Stars League’s second leg at its headquarters in Al Bidda Tower.
The meeting was attended by Ahmed Salman Al Adsani, Director of Competitions Department at QSL; Abdullah Al Balooshi, representative of the Qatar Football Association’s Referees’ Committee; and representatives of QNB Stars League clubs.
During the meeting the jersey colours and kits for each team in their upcoming games were decides and organisational matters and Match Day procedures were also discussed.
