Veteran coach Fernandez eases Khor to safety.

Al Khor headed into the 2015/2016 with plenty of enthusiasm after bringing in experienced French tactician Jean Fernandez to manage the side for the new campaign. The seasoned head coach was no stranger to the region following a stint in Saudi Arabia and was charged with lifting the prospects of the Knights

 In summer transfer news, only Korean defender Yong Lee joined the side as Khor opted to stick with the Brazilian trio of Marco Antonio, Julio Cesar and Madson.

Fernandez’s stint didn’t start particularly well with Khor with the side from up north only picking up two points from the first six games. It promised to be a tough season; however one bright spot from the two early draws was that they came against El Jaish and Al Sadd suggesting that Khor could be a force to recon with defensively.

Al Khor’s first victory of the season came in round eight when they sunk Qatar SC 2-1, thanks to goals from Madson and Julio Cesar. From that point onwards Khor started to find their feet in the league and started to defeat teams around them in the table including a win over Meisameer (2-1) and an encouraging 2-2 draw with Al Kharaitiyat.




A 2-0 defeat at the hands of Al Sailiya was followed up by a five game unbeaten streak, the longest for the side this season. Impressive wins against Al Gharafa (2-0) Al Arabi (2-1) and most importantly a shock 1-0 win over El Jaish underlined that Khor where looking for a comfortable mid table finish.





One man who was ever-present for Khor this season was Marcos Antonio; the former Sao Paulo man notched up the joint most assists for his side, and received the 4^th highest Prozone rating for a central midfielder in the QSL.

Three straight defeats in February meant that Jean Fernandez’s side where nervously looking to the relegation zone going to the final third of the season. However moral boosting wins over relegation battling Qatar SC (3-1) and Meisameer (1-0) confirmed safety with three QSL games to spare. Khor pushed on in the remaining games to end the 2015/2016 on a three game unbeaten streak, eventually finishing tenth in the QSL standings.

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Khor certainly bucked expectations under Jean Fernandez, a side who was expected to struggle in the QSL put in a number of key performances to survive with weeks to spare. The French tactician certainly shored up a leaky Khor backline this term and will be looking to build in his second term in Qatar at Al Khor.