Al-Gharafa

Bilal Mohammed made 180 appearances for Al-Gharafa and won 108 caps for Qatar. The team he played for grew out of Al-Ittihad, formed on 6 June 1979 and entered into the Qatar Football Association that September; the name changed to Al-Gharafa in 2004, tying the club to the district of Al Rayyan it had represented all along. Yellow and blue went on the shirts because the founders liked the look of Brazil.

The nickname, Al Fuhud, the Cheetahs, sat well on a side that took seven Qatar Stars League titles between 1992 and 2010. The Emir of Qatar Cup has been kinder still: nine wins stretching from 1995 all the way to 2026. Adel Khamis, known as the Brown Gazelle and later club captain, was part of the side that won Qatar the Gulf Cup in 1992, and his name still carries weight around Thani bin Jassim Stadium.

That ground has been rebuilt and expanded since it went up in 2003, most recently around the 2022 World Cup, and it sits at the centre of Qatari football's oldest rivalry: Al-Rayyan SC, the neighbours. The Al Thani family's backing has continued into recent years under Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim bin Thamer Al Thani as head of football. With the Emir Cup won again in 2025 and 2026, Al-Gharafa go into the new season.