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50th Amir Cup Draw pits defending champs Al Sadd against Muaither

50th Amir Cup Draw pits defending champs Al Sadd against Muaither

QFA

The draw for the final stages of the 50th Amir Cup, for the 2021-22 season, was held on Wednesday at the Qatar Football Association headquarters and streamed online via video conference to the representatives of the participating teams and members of the media.

At the beginning of the ceremony, Ali Hamoud Al-Nuaimi, Head of the Competitions Department of the QFA, gave a detailed explanation of the mechanism of the draw. Hamad Al-Hajri, member of the Competitions Committee, conducted the ceremony to draw the fixtures of the Round of 16, the full schedule of which will be announced in due time.

The results of the draw brought about some intense matchups, with some surprises certainly in store. Matches 1 and 2 saw Al Sadd pitted against Muaither, while Al-Ahli are set to face Al-Markhiya. The winners of these two games will meet in the quarter-finals.

In matches 3 and 4, Al-Arabi will play Al-Sailiya, while Al-Duhail clash with Al-Khor, with the winners set to meet in the quarter-finals as well.

As for matches numbers 5-6 and 7-8, Al-Shamal face off with Qatar SC, and Al-Gharafa will play Al-Kharaitiyat, while Al-Rayyan clash with Umm Salal and Al-Wakra lock horns with Al-Shahaniya.

The draw took place according to the new format of the tournament, where all teams will start the competition in the Round of 16, with the participation of 16 clubs from the first and second divisions.

According to the draw rules, the 16 teams were ranked according to their positions in the QNB Stars League (QSL) and the Second Division League (SDL) last season.

The top eight teams from the QSL – Al Sadd, Al Duhail, Al Rayyan, Al Gharafa, Al Ahli, Qatar SC, Al Arabi and Al Wakrah – were placed in the first pool. The second pool consisted of the remaining teams in the QSL, from positions 9-12 – Al-Sailiya, Umm Salal, Al-Khor and Al-Kharaitiyat – along with the top three teams from the SDL – Al-Shamal, Al-Shahania and Muaither – and also Al-Markhiya, who qualified from the preliminary phase after defeating Mesaimeer in the clash between the fourth and fifth-placed teams from the SDL.