Ahmed Al Adsani, Director of Competitions Department at Qatar Stars League and Mohammed Al Ansari, Director of Field Marketing and Activation at Ooredoo Qatar during the Ooredoo Cup draw ceremony yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit/ The Peninsula
Giants Al Sadd face old foes Al Rayyan while defending champions Al Gharafa will have Al Duhail in their group as the draw for the Ooredoo Cup 2019-2020 was held at the Qatar Stars League (QSL) headquarters at Al Bidda Tower, yesterday.
The 12 First Division teams participating in the event have been divided into two groups in the Ooredoo Cup, formerly known as the QSL Cup, with the top four teams advancing to the quarter-finals after the first stage.
According to the QSL management, the tournament’s schedule and venues will be finalised later in co-ordination with the authorities concerned.
Al Gharafa have won the previous two editions of the event as they retained their title last January after defeating Al Duhail 1-0 in the final.
Ahmed Al Adsani, Director of Competitions Department at QSL, Mohammed Al Ansari, Director of Field Marketing and Activation at Ooredoo Qatar, and representatives of First Division clubs competing in the tournament this season (Al Sadd, Al Duhail, Al Sailiya, Al Rayyan, Al Ahli, Al Arabi, Al Shahania, Al Gharafa, Umm Salal, Al Khor, Qatar SC and Al Wakrah) in addition to representatives of the media and official broadcaster attended the draw ceremony yesterday.
The ranking of clubs in the draw was based on their final standings in the 2018-19 QNB Stars League.
Group A includes Al Sadd, Al Shahaniya, Al Ahli, Umm Salal, Al Rayyan, Al Wakrah while the Group B comprise Al Duhail, Al Khor, Al Sailiya, Qatar SC, Al Arabi and Al Gharafa.
Al Adsani welcomed all attendees at the draw ceremony and highlighted that the tournament would be held this season under the patronage of Ooredoo, one of the major national companies. He said the QSL was proud of the association and appreciated Ooredoo’s role as well as hoping that the common goals would be achieved.
Al Ansari said: “With the draw made and knowing the exciting contests between the teams in the group stage, we along with all sports fans in Qatar are eagerly awaiting the tournament’s start to enjoy a strong and fair competition. At Ooredoo, we’re delighted to be partnering the QSL in sponsoring this tournament and we’re always looking forward towards contributing to the sport in Qatar, which is hosting many major tournaments.”
Following the draw, a technical meeting was held under the chairmanship of Al Adsani and in the presence of the representative of Referees Committee Abdullah Al Balooshi as well as representatives of competing clubs.
The meeting discussed organisational matters and the tournament’s format, which has round-robin group stage followed by knockouts from the quarterfinals. It stressed the need to meet the deadlines set on match days, told each team about the need to make main and reserve players compete in the games besides selecting jersey colours of each team’s players.
