The Qatari Second Division (), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the two-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league competition in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. Contested by 8 teams, it operates on a system of

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

with the

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League (; abbreviated as QSL), known as Ooredoo Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation wi ...

(QSL), the top-tier football league in the country. The QSD seasons, like those of the QSL, run from September to April. The league's first season was played in 1979 which was won by

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...

. The club with the most QSD wins is Al-Markhiya which has won 6 QSD titles. According to the league's development strategy, starting with the 2022–23 season, the first-placed club of this league will play a relegation match against the tenth-placed club of the first league to decide which club will participate in the first league next season. There is no relegation from the second division.

History

In 1990, the

Qatar Football Association The Qatar Football Association () is the governing body of football in Qatar. The QFA was founded in 1960 and is based in Doha, Qatar. It became a member of FIFA in 1963 and of AFC in 1967. The Qatar Football Association organizes the main leag ...

dissolved three second division clubs: Al Nasr, Al Tadamon, and Al Nahda. The clubs' players and staff were distributed to first division clubs. As a result, the Qatari Second Division was unofficially dissolved on a temporary basis. The competition resumed operations in the 1996–97 season. The first promotion play-off took place in the 1999–00 season, between Second Division champions

Muaither SC Muaither SC () is a multi-sports club based in Muaither, Qatar. It is best known for its Association football, football department, which plays in the Qatari Second Division. History 1996–2013: Second division The club was founded in 1996 as ...

and the bottom-ranked team of the

Al Shamal Al Shamal () is a municipality in Qatar. Its seat is Madinat ash Shamal and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar, although its population is barely over 7,000. The seat's name translates to "city of the north". Ras Rakan, t ...

. Muaither lost the match. It was announced on 15 April 2009 that no clubs would be relegated from the top flight in the 2008–09 season, due to expansion reasons, however the announcement was made with only one game remaining. This meant that the Qatari Second Division would remain with the same number of teams despite the recent formation of

Lekhwiya SC Al-Duhail Sports Club (), formerly Lekhwiya SC, is a Qatari sports club, best known for its football team, which plays in the Qatar Stars League. The club is based in the Duhail district in the city of Doha and plays its home games at Abd ...

and

El Jaish SC El-Jaish Sports Club () was a Qatari multi-sports club from 2011 to 2017, based in the Al-Duhail area of Doha. The association football team played in the Qatar Stars League. The team won the Qatargas League prior to 2011, but were not eligi ...

, while the top flight would expand to 12 teams. On 6 October 2013 it was announced Qatari Second Division had a sponsorship with

Qatargas QatarEnergy LNG, formerly Qatargas, is the world's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) company. It produces and supplies the globe with 77 million metric tonnes of LNG annually from across its seven ventures—QatarEnergy LNG N(1), QatarEnergy ...

. An annual competition known as the Qatari Second Division Cup is played by all second division clubs.

Clubs

Champions

Source:List of Champions – 2nd Division – QFA

2022–23 season

Championship history

Total titles won by town or city

Top scorers

References

External links

* {{AFC second leagues Second level football leagues in Asia Football leagues in Qatar Sports leagues established in 1963