2023–24 Al Sadd SC season explained

Club:	Al Sadd SC
Season:	2023–24
Manager:	Bruno Pinheiro (from 13 July 2023 ^[1] until 16 November 2023)^[2] Wesam Rizik (from 25 November 2023)^[3]
Mgrtitle:	Head coach
Chairman:	Muhammed bin Khalifa Al Thani
Stadium:	Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
League:	Qatar Stars League
League Result:	1st
Cup1:	Emir of Qatar Cup
Cup1 Result:	Winners
Cup2:	Champions League
Cup2 Result:	Group stage
Cup3:	Arab Club Champions Cup
Cup3 Result:	Quarter-finals
League Topscorer:	Akram Afif (26)
Season Topscorer:	Akram Afif (30)
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Prevseason:	2022–23
Nextseason:	2024–25

In the 2023–24 season, Al Sadd SC is competing in the Qatar Stars League for the 51st season, as well as the Emir of Qatar Cup, the Champions League and the Arab Club Champions Cup.

Review

Background

Al Sadd SC began training in the external camp on the first of July in the Seefeld in Tirol region in Austria, which will continue until the fifteenth of the same month, during which the team will play 3 friendly matches.^[4] The team's technical staff, led by Spaniard Juan Manuel Lillo, tried to give the largest number of players the opportunity to measure their response to the work they have undergone since starting their preparations in Doha before traveling to Austria in preparation for the new season. It is worth noting that Al Sadd SC has succeeded in strengthening its ranks with a number of foreign professional players led by The Brazilian duo Paulo Otávio coming from VfL Wolfsburg and Giovanni Henrique coming from Palmeiras for a fee reported to be around €9 million.^{[5] [6]} It also signed Colombian midfielder Mateus Uribe from Porto and Iranian defender Amin Hazbavi player of Iranian Foolad.^{[7] [8]} Al Sadd SC had renewed the contract of Brazilian Guilherme Torres for the next two seasons, until 2025 and kept Baghdad Bounedjah in the team during the current season.^[9]

On July 13, 2023, Al Sadd have announced the appointment of Portuguese Bruno Pinheiro as the coach of their first team succeeding Spaniard ‘Juanma’, who desired to be relieved due to urgent personal circumstances and which was approved by the club management. On July 24, 2023, Al Sadd signed Ecuadorian international Gonzalo Plata for five seasons coming from Valladolid.^[10] On the same day Moroccan defender Romain Saïss joined the club for two seasons in a deal amounting to 2.5 million euros, coming from Beşiktaş.^[11] However, due to exceeding the number of foreign players allowed in the Qatar Stars League, the club loaned its player to Al-Shabab for one season.^[12]

Squad list

Players and squad numbers last updated on 4 May 2023.^[13]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Nat.	Position	Name	Date of Birth (Age)	Signed from
Goalkeepers
1		GK	Saad Al Sheeb	August 18, 2023	Youth system
22		GK	Meshaal Barsham	August 18, 2023	Youth system
30		GK	Jehad Hudib	August 18, 2023	Youth system
31		GK	Yousef Baliadeh	August 18, 2023	Al-Shamal SC
99		GK	Abdulla Ibrahim		Youth system
Defenders
2		CB	Pedro Miguel	August 18, 2023	Al Ahli
5		CB	Tarek Salman	August 18, 2023	Júpiter Leonés
6		LB	Paulo Otávio	August 18, 2023	VfL Wolfsburg
13		RB	Abdullah Al-Yazidi	August 18, 2023	Youth system
16		LB / CB	Boualem Khoukhi	August 18, 2023	Al Arabi
37		CB	Ahmed Suhail	August 18, 2023	Youth system
55		CB	Amin Hazbavi	August 18, 2023	Foolad
66		CB	Abdulrahman Al-Ameen	August 18, 2023	Youth system
70		RB	Musab Kheder	August 18, 2023	Youth system
98		LB	Nayef Hamid	August 18, 2023	Youth system
Midfielders
4		DM	Ahmed Sayyar	August 18, 2023	Al-Gharafa
7		CM / DM / AM	Mohammed Waad	August 18, 2023	Youth system
8		CM	Ali Assadalla	August 18, 2023	Al Muharraq
14		CM	Mostafa Meshaal	August 18, 2023	Youth system
18		DM	Guilherme Torres	August 18, 2023	Olympiacos
20		DM	Salem Al-Hajri	August 18, 2023	Eupen
33		CM	Moaz El-Wadia	August 18, 2023	Youth system
86			Mohamed Faragalla		Youth system
88		CM / DM	Mateus Uribe	August 18, 2023	Porto
96		CM	Anas Abweny	August 18, 2023	Al-Shamal SC
97			Abdulla Mahdi	August 18, 2023	Youth system
Forwards
9		CF	Yusuf Abdurisag	August 18, 2023	Youth system
10		RW / LW / AM	Hassan Al-Haidos	August 18, 2023	Youth system
11		ST	Baghdad Bounedjah	August 18, 2023	Étoile du Sahel
12		CF	Ilyes Housni	August 18, 2023	Paris Saint-Germain
17			Giovanni Henrique	August 18, 2023	Palmeiras
19		RW	Gonzalo Plata	August 18, 2023	Valladolid
23		RW	Hashim Ali	August 18, 2023	Al-Rayyan (Loan return)
25		RW	Mohammed Al-Quraishi	August 18, 2023	Youth system
28		LW	Ahmad Al-Saeed	August 18, 2023	Youth system
51		LW / RW	Akram Afif	August 18, 2023	Villarreal

Competitions

Overview

Competition	Record								Started round	Final position / round	First match	Last match
Qatar Stars League	Matchday 1	Winner	18 August 2023	28 April 2024
Emir of Qatar Cup	Round of 16	Winner	9 May 2024	24 May 2024
Champions League	Group stage		18 September 2023	4 December 2023
Arab Club Champions Cup	Group stage	Quarter-finals	27 July 2023	5 August 2023
Total Qatar Stars League See main article: 2023–24 Qatar Stars League. Matches Emir of Qatar Cup See main article: 2024 Emir of Qatar Cup. AFC Champions League See main article: 2023–24 AFC Champions League. Group stage See main article: article. The draw for the group stage was held on 24 August 2023 at the AFC House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[14] The 40 teams were drawn into ten groups of four: five groups each in the West Region (Groups A–E) and the East Region (Groups F–J). For each region, teams were seeded into four pots and drawn into the relevant positions within each group, based on their association ranking and their seeding within their association, in consideration of the technical balance between groups. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group. Arab Club Champions Cup See main article: 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup. Group stage The final tournament was held in Saudi Arabia from 27 July to 12 August 2023, across four cities: Abha, Al Bahah, Khamis Mushait and Taif. 16 teams were drawn into four groups of four. Ten teams already entered the group stage directly as league champions from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia. In addition the previous edition holders and runners-up, and one invitee selected by UAFA from the host nation enters directly to the group stage. Six teams advanced from the qualifying rounds to complete the 16-teams group stage. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the knockout stage.^[15] Knockout stage Quarter-finals Squad information Appearances and goals No. Player Total Goalkeepers 1 GK Saad Al-Sheeb 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 8 8 0 22 GK Meshaal Barsham 13 13 0 3 3 0 6 6 0 3 3 0 25 25 0 30 GK Jehad Hudib 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 31 GK Yousef Abdullah 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 99 GK Abdulla Ibrahim 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Defenders 2 DF Ró-Ró 5 5 0 3 0 0 3 3 0 4 4 0 15 12 0 5 DF Tarek Salman 20 17 1 3 3 0 6 6 0 4 4 1 33 30 2 6 DF Paulo Otávio 22 21 2 3 3 0 5 5 0 3 1 1 33 30 3 12 DF Ilyes Housni 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 1 16 DF Boualem Khoukhi 20 19 0 3 3 0 6 6 1 4 4 0 33 32 1 29 DF Romain Saïss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 37 DF Ahmed Suhail 10 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 3 0 55 DF Amin Hazbavi 19 16 1 0 0 0 4 2 0 1 0 0 24 18 1 66 DF Abdulrahman Al-Ameen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 70 DF Musab Kheder 9 5 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 3 3 0 16 11 0 96 DF Anas Abweny 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 98 DF Nayef Hamid 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Midfielders 4 MF Ahmed Sayyar 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 12 5 0 7 MF Mohammed Waad 19 16 0 3 3 0 6 6 0 4 0 0 32 25 0 8 MF Ali Assadalla 15 5 2 0 0 0 4 1 0 3 3 0 24 8 2 10 MF Hassan Al-Haydos 21 14 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 0 27 18 4 13 MF Abdullah Al-Yazidi 7 3 0 3 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 12 6 0 14 MF Mostafa Meshaal 12 6 0 2 0 0 4 0 1 1 0 0 19 6 1 18 MF Guilherme Torres 14 13 3 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 17 15 3 19 MF Gonzalo Plata 21 21 8 2 2 0 5 5 2 3 1 1 31 29 11 20 MF Salem Al-Hajri 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 MF Hashim Ali 12 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 15 1 1 25 MF Mohammed Al-Quraishi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 33 MF Moaz El-Wadia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 86 MF Mohamed Faragalla 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 88 MF Mateus Uribe 9 9 0 3 3 1 5 4 1 4 4 0 21 20 2 97 MF Abdulla Mahdi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Forwards 9 FW Yusuf Abdurisag 17 10 5 2 2 0 5 1 1 2 0 0 26 13 6 11 FW Baghdad Bounedjah 20 14 8 3 3 1 6 5 5 4 4 1 33 26 15 28 FW Ahmad Al-Saeed 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 0 0 51 FW Akram Afif 22 21 26 3 3 1 5 5 0 4 4 2 34 33 29 Total 22 65 3 3 6 11 4 6 35 49 Goalscorers Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted alphabetically by surname when total goals are equal. width=10 No. width=10 Nat. width=120 Player width=10 Pos. width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 TOTAL 51 FW 26 0 0 2 28 11 FW 8 0 5 1 14 19 MF 8 0 2 1 11 9 FW 5 0 1 0 6 10 MF 4 0 0 0 4 18 FW 3 0 0 0 3 6 DF 2 0 0 1 3 8 MF 2 0 0 0 2 55 DF 1 0 0 0 1 12 DF 1 0 0 0 1 23 MF 1 0 0 0 1 88 MF 0 0 1 0 1 16 DF 0 0 1 0 1 5 DF 0 0 0 1 1 14 MF 0 0 1 0 1 Own Goals 3 0 0 0 3 Totals 65 0 11 6 82 Assists width=10 No. width=10 Nat. width=120 Player width=10 Pos. width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 TOTAL 51 FW 11 0 1 0 12 19 MF 6 0 1 0 7 11 FW 4 0 0 2 6 10 MF 6 0 0 0 6 7 MF 2 0 2 1 5 6 DF 4 0 1 0 5 8 MF 3 0 1 1 5 18 FW 2 0 0 0 2 16 DF 1 0 1 0 2 9 FW 2 0 0 0 2 88 MF 1 0 0 0 1 23 MF 1 0 0 0 1 2 DF 0 0 1 0 1 55 DF 0 0 1 0 1 Totals 43 0 9 4 56 Clean sheets Includes all competitive matches. Clean sheets width=15 width=15 width=210 Name width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 width=40 Total 1 Saad Al-Sheeb 8 6 4 0 0 1 5 22 Meshaal Barsham 21 23 6 0 3 1 10 31 Yousef Abdullah 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 TOTALS 34 10 0 3 2 15 Transfers In Date Player From club Transfer fee Source 17 May 2023 LB Free transfer ^[16] 25 May 2023 DF Free transfer 5 June 2023 MF Free transfer 27 June 2023 FW €9 million ^[17] 23 July 2023 RW Free transfer 24 July 2023 DF €2.5 million ^[18] 18 September 2023 FW Loan for one year ^[19] Out Date Player To club Transfer fee Source 20 July 2023 MF Free transfer 6 August 2023 FW Free transfer ^[20] 16 August 2023 MF Free transfer ^[21] 5 September 2023 DF Loan for one year ^[22] ^[23] References

Notes and References

1. Web site: Bruno Miguel is new Al Sadd coach; Al Rawi joins Al Rayyan . Qatar Tribune . 13 July 2023 . 27 October 2023.
2. Web site: Official Statement: Club thanks Bruno Miguel . . 16 November 2023 . 25 December 2023.
3. Web site: Official Statement: Wesam Rizik takes over as Al-Sadd coach . . 16 November 2023 . 25 December 2023.
4. Web site: السد يواصل استعداداته للموسم الجديد بالمعسكر الخارجي في النمسا . . 1 July 2023 . 30 October 2023.
5. Web site: Al Sadd Officially Sign Brazilian Player Paulo Otavio . . 17 May 2023 . 27 October 2023.
6. News: Giovani chega ao Catar para finalizar sua transferência do Palmeiras rumo ao Al Sadd. 26 June 2023. Globo Esporte. 27 June 2023. pt.
7. Web site: Sadd sign Iran defender Hazbavi . Gulf Times . 27 May 2023 . 27 October 2023.
8. News: OFFICIAL: Al-Sadd sign Colombian player Mateus Uribe. 5 June 2023. Al Sadd SC. 5 June 2023. en.
9. Web site: Guilherme Torres extends contract with Al Sadd SC . The Peninsula Qatar . 21 June 2023 . 30 October 2023.
10. Web site: Al-Sadd signs Ecuadorian Gonzalo Plata for five seasons . Gulf Times . 24 July 2023 . 27 October 2023.
11. Web site: 24 July 2023 . Besiktas' Romain Saiss moves to Qatar's Al Sadd . 2023-09-06 . AA.
12. Web site: قائد المنتخب المغربي رومان سايس ينتقل إلى الشباب السعودي . France24 . 6 September 2023 . 30 October 2023.
13. Web site: Teams – Al Sadd Sports Club. 2023-05-04. en-US. 10 April 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210410185821/https://al-saddclub.com/teams/. live.
14. Web site: #ACL: Teams learn the path to glory . 1 September 2023 . www.the-afc.com.
15. Web site: نتائج قرعة الدور الثاني (المجموعات) من البطولة . The results of the draw for the second round (groups) of the tournament . twitter.com/UAFAAC . . ar . 6 March 2023.
16. News: OFFICIAL: Al-Sadd sign Brazilian player Paulo Otavio. 17 May 2023. Al Sadd SC. 21 May 2023. en.
17. News: OFFICIAL: Al-Sadd sign Brazilian player Giovani Henrique. 27 June 2023. Al Sadd SC. 27 June 2023. en.
18. Web site: 2023-07-24 . Official: Al-Sadd sign Moroccan player Romain Saïss . 2023-09-06 . Al Sadd SC . en-US.
19. Web site: Le PSG prête Ilyes Housni à Al-Sadd . 2023-09-18 . L'Équipe . fr.
20. Web site: 2023-08-06 . رسميا .. نادي أولمبياكوس يرحب بالكعبي . 2023-08-08 . Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية . ar.
21. Web site: Santi Cazorla, nuevo futbolista del Real Oviedo. Santi Cazorla, new footballer of Real Oviedo. Real Oviedo. es. 16 August 2023. 16 August 2023.
22. Web site: 2023-09-05 . Romain Saiss confirmado como reforço do Al Shabab . Romain Saiss confirmed ad Al Shabab's reinforcement . 2023-09-06 . Bola na Rede . pt-PT.
23. Web site: 2023-09-05 . رومان سايس ينتقل إلى الشباب السعودي . 2023-09-06 . Hespress - هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية . ar.