How the league works
Twelve clubs, 22 rounds, one automatic relegation place and a play-off underneath it. The rest of the table is a queue for Asia.
Qatar runs two national divisions. The Qatar Stars League has 12 clubs and sits at level one; the division below it is Qatar Stars League 2. Each Stars League club plays the other eleven at home and away, so 22 matches each and 132 in the season, usually opening in August and finishing in April.
The bottom club is relegated outright. The eleventh-placed club plays a one-off relegation play-off against a club from the division below. At the top, the finishing order decides Qatar's entries in the AFC Champions League Elite, the AFC Champions League Two and the Gulf Club Champions League, with the Amir Cup winners taking a place of their own.
The 2026-27 season is being played now, under the sponsorship name Doha Bank Stars League. After 4 rounds the leaders are Al Sadd on 12 points, and the next round, Week 5, starts on 8 Oct 2026. The table is on the front page.
Format and calendar
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Level | First division, Qatar. Member of the AFC. |
| Clubs | 12 |
| Matches | 22 per club, 132 in the season, double round robin |
| Season | August to April |
| Down | 12th relegated, 11th into a play-off |
| Up | The Qatar Stars League 2 champions, plus the play-off winner if that is the second division club |
| Tie-breakers | Points, then goal difference, then goals scored |
| Sponsor name | Doha Bank Stars League in 2025-26; the title sponsor has changed several times |
Source: Wikipedia, Qatar Stars League and 2025-26 Qatar Stars League.
One quirk worth knowing: the top four clubs of the regular season also play the Qatar Crown Prince Cup, contested since 1994-95. A Qatari club can end a season with four or five trophies in play, and the league is only one of them.
What finishing high is worth
Qatar's continental allocation moves with the AFC's coefficient, so the exact split changes. The 2025-26 season ended with six of the twelve clubs in a continental competition, which is half the league.
| Competition | Qualified |
|---|---|
| AFC Champions League Elite | Al Sadd, Al-Shamal, and Al-Gharafa as Amir Cup winners |
| AFC Champions League Two | Al-Rayyan |
| Gulf Club Champions League | Al Duhail, Qatar SC |
Source: Wikipedia, 2025-26 Qatar Stars League.
The cups
Qatari clubs play a crowded domestic calendar. Five cup competitions sit alongside the league, and the names have shifted over the years, which is part of why the record books are hard to follow.
- Amir Cup, also written Emir Cup. The senior knockout, open to clubs from both divisions, and the one whose winner takes a continental place.
- Qatar Cup, contested between the league's leading clubs.
- Qatari Stars Cup, the competition the old site on this domain used to call the QSL Cup.
- Sheikh Jassem Cup, the curtain-raiser played before the league season starts.
- Qatar FA Cup.
Source: Wikipedia, Qatar Stars League.
A short history
The first championship was played in 1963-64 and won by Al-Maaref, a club that no longer exists in the top flight. The first season recognised as official came in 1972-73. For most of the 1960s and 1970s the title went to Qatar SC and Al Sadd; from the 1980s Al-Rayyan and Al-Arabi took their turns.
Two changes reshaped the league. In 2003 the Qatar Football Association put money into the clubs, which is when the first well-known foreign players arrived. In 2009 the competition was renamed from the Q-League to the Qatar Stars League and expanded to 12 clubs. A further expansion to 14 was announced in 2013 and reversed in 2017, which is why the league is back at twelve today.
Eight clubs have won it. By city, Doha clubs hold 44 of the titles and Al Rayyan clubs 15.