The Peninsula
The Round of 16 matches of the 50th edition of Amir Cup will be held from February 13, the Qatar Football Association announced yesterday.
Two matches will be held over four days with defending champion Al Sadd opening the com-petition against second division side Muaither at 4:40 pm at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
That encounter will be followed by the last 16 contest between Qatar SC and Al Shamal at 7:30pm at the same stadium.
On February 14, Al Ahli will meet Al Markhiya, followed by Al Arabi - Al Sailiya encounter at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
On February 15, Al Duhail will take on Al Khor, before last year’s runner-up Al Rayyan face Umm Salal at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.
Grand Hamad Stadium will host the final two last 16 matches on February 16, when Al Gharafa square off against Al Kharaitiyat, while Al Wakrah take on Al Shahaniya.
There will be no extra time played, with the winners decided by penalty shootout if the match ended in a draw in regulation time.
Al Sadd are the defending champions, having beaten Al Rayyan on penalties at Al Thumama Stadium last year.
The Wolves have won the Amir Cup crown a record 18 times since the tour-nament’s inception in 1972 will be once again start as a heavy favourites.
The draw for the round of 16 was conducted by Qatar Football Association on Wednesday.
Teams are divided into two pools, the first of which consist of the eight teams who finished first to eighth in the last season of the QNB Stars League. As for the second pool, it has teams ranked ninth to 12th in the QNB Stars League last season, the top three ranked teams from last season’s Second Division League, and the preliminary round game winner between Markhiya.