After the end of 2018-19 season, all QNB Stars League clubs are looking at ways to avoid the drawbacks and rectify the mistakes ahead of the new season.

As part of coverage of the league championship that went by, the Qatar Stars League website analyses all 12 teams’ performance in the 2018-19 QNB Stars League, in the order of their final standings.

AL SHAHANIA

Al Shahania made great strides in the 2018-19 QNB Stars League. The promoted side punched way above its weight and finished seventh with 27 points (seven victories, six draws and nine defeats). They had a goal difference of -8 (26 goals for and 34 against).

In the process, they outperformed some of the big clubs.

Stability on the coach and player fronts contributed a lot to Al Shahania’s good run. Spanish coach Jose Murcia, who helped them earn promotion from the Second Division, stayed. So were most of the players who enabled them to emerge as the Second Division champions.

Murcia succeeded in bringing the best out of his players and they showed fighting spirit. Not only did Al Shahania achieve their target of staying in the top flight, but they ended up in a respectable position as well.

Al Shahania retained their foreign players (Argentinian Luciano Vazquez, Ivorian Kesse Amangoua and Spaniard Alvaro Perez as well as Omani Nadir Awadh). They also benefited from the inclusion of Iraqi defender Rebin Solaka in the winter transfer window from Al Khor.

Murcia was shortlisted for the Qatar Football Association’s best-coach award and that was proof for the outstanding work done by him with a bunch of determined and charged-up players.

A number of Qatari players too excelled for Al Shahania during the season. Among them were Mesaad Al Hamad, Mustafa Jalal, Yousef Hani Ballan and Abdulla Khalid.