AFC Champions League: Al-Gharafa vs Abu Dhabi United! Weaker than expected, is Qatari football in decline?

Today's first match discussion isthe AFC Champions League elite clash: Al-Rayyan Al-Gharafa vs Abu Dhabi United!

Veteran fans must have noticed that the big names have very high expectations for Abu Dhabi United, almost to an exaggerated extent.

Why is that? The home team is Qatar's top club, while the visitors are only second in the UAE,and both sides have almost identical market values, so could there really be such a huge difference in strength?

Maybe there is, because Qatari football is currently experiencing its lowest ebb in many years.

First of all, in this AFC Champions League, Qatari teams have generally performed poorly.

Al-Gharafa has 1 win and 4 losses in 5 matches, making qualification very difficult.

Even Al Sadd, Qatar's longtime leader, has performed worse, failing to win any of their 5 matches.

Moreover, it's not just the clubs that are struggling; the national team is also performing terribly.

For example, this month's Arab Cup was held in Qatar, with the final deliberately scheduled on Qatar's National Day, and they were drawn into the easiest group A—perfect conditions in every way.

Yet they managed only 1 point from 3 matches and embarrassingly finished last in the group!

Qatar’s players have passed their peak and are now in a downturn after the World Cup benefits have faded.

This generation of Qatari national players is the product of an unprecedented national project in human history.

For the 2022 World Cup,Qatar invested $1.3 billion back in 2004 to establish the Aspire Academy.

They hired top coaches from major clubs like Barcelona’s Sánchez to personally train the same group of children from youth to adulthood and into the national team—sixteen years of honing teamwork, knowing exactly how teammates move and where to pass without looking.

They also spent heavily acquiring clubs in Spain, Belgium, and other countries to develop players—core players like Afif and Madibo trained in these teams.

Ultimately, at the 2022 World Cup, Aspire Academy contributed 18 national team players.

Assuming Aspire Academy spent no more than the initial $1.3 billion over nearly two decades, dividing that cost by 18 national players means about $72 million per player,which is more than 500 million RMB per person!

Such astronomical costs to build the strongest generation is understandable.

However, after winning two Asian Cups and participating in their first World Cup, as 2026 approaches, this strongest group is aging, tiring, and no longer at their peak.

Al Sadd, with the most national players, is in the worst shape—they are only fourth in the domestic league this season.

Al-Gharafa has only six Qatari national players, so the impact is less severe than on Al Sadd,but Al-Gharafa has its own serious problem—the main players are too old.

How old?

They are the oldest in the entire Qatari league.

In Middle Eastern leagues like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, huge investments have brought in many foreign players.

But Saudi Arabia started spending big only after the 2022 World Cup—for example, Cristiano Ronaldo only officially joined Saudi Arabia in January 2023.

Qatar is different,as many foreign players were brought in before the 2022 World Cupto accompany the crown prince at school and create a high-level league environment to develop Qatari national players.

As a domestic powerhouse, Al-Gharafa naturally has many such foreign players; their captain Sassi and star winger Brahimi, among others, were all signed before 2022.

People inevitably age.

Look at the top ten players by playing time for Al-Gharafa this season,seven are over 33 years old, with some aged 35, 36, even 39.

With age comes decline, so how could their ability still be at its peak? Even a famously disciplined player like Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or at 29 but obviously not at 39.

In contrast, Abu Dhabi United’s average age is only 26.1, right in their prime, the whole team vibrant and on the rise.

Although they have already qualified early, this is their first match after a coaching change, and without schedule pressure, they likely won’t give up easily—they probably want a strong start.

Moreover, in October’s World Cup qualifiers, the UAE national team faced Qatar and, after facing some very strange and unfair arrangements, was eliminated by Qatar, leaving the whole country frustrated.

If Abu Dhabi United can get some revenge at the club level this time, it would be widely welcomed at home.

So, can Abu Dhabi United satisfy their fans? What do you think? We hope they can take all three points away from this away game.

Alright, for today’s other matches, I will still share my written insights with you tonight. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch the games with full understanding—see you then!

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