DOHA: Football giants Lekhwiya and Al Sadd will clash for Sheikh Jassim Cup glory on January 21 at the recently-renovated Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium, Qatar Football Association (QFA) announced yesterday.
The clash to be played at the home ground of Al Ahli will kick off at 6pm.
The Sheikh Jassim Cup is an annual cup competition in Qatar held between the winners of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) which is Lekhwiya and the Emir Cup champions which is Al Sadd.
Al Sadd claimed the title of last season’s Emir Cup when they played against Lekhwiya at Lekhwiya Stadium and won 3-2.
The Champion of this year’s cup will receive the cup trophy and gold medals while the runner up will receive silver medals.
Both teams will receive cash prizes which will be announced shortly.
The technical meeting of the match, which will be headed by Ali Al Naimi, QFA Match Commissioner, will commence on Wednesday at QFA’s headquarters, Al Bidda Tower.
The meeting will be attended by Al Sadd and Lekhwiya officials and match organisers. The meeting will discuss all organisational matters related to the match.
The pre-match press conference will take place on Wednesday at Al Ahli Stadium.
Head coaches of both teams and two players will speak about the team’s preparations ahead of the one-off clash.
It is worth mentioning that the Sheikh Jassim Cup is one of the key events in Qatari football calendar and acts as the season opener but was postponed this year due to the busy football calendar.
The first Sheikh Jassim Cup was held in 1977 and was won by Al Sadd.
Al Sadd have won the coveted trophy on 13 occasions.
Prior to Sheikh Jassim Cup 2014, all 18 first and second division clubs competed in the tournament under a format in which the teams were divided into four groups with the winners from each group qualifying for the semi-finals.
