Al-Ittihad Sports Club
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| Full name | Al-Gharafa Sports Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Al Fuhud (The Cheetahs) |
| Founded | 6 June 1979 as Al-Ittihad, 2004 as Al-Gharafa |
| Ground |
Al-Gharafa Stadium Doha, Qatar |
| Capacity | 25,000 |
| Chairman | Hamad bin Thamer |
| Manager | Vacant |
| League | Qatar Stars League |
| 2015–16 | Qatar Stars League, 9th |
| Active departments of Al-Gharafa Sports Club |
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|---|---|---|
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| Football | Basketball | |
Al-Gharafa Sports Club (Arabic: نادي الغرافة الرياضي) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Gharafa district of Al Rayyan. It is primarily known for its football team, although it also has teams for other sports. It was established on 6 June 1979 as Al-Ittihad and later officially incorporated into the Qatar Football Association on 23 September that same year. The club was officially renamed to its current form in 2004 to better represent the district of Al-Gharafa, which the club belongs to.
The idea of creating the new club that would represent Gharafat Al-Rayyan sparked from a group of young Qataris in 1978. Most notably, people like Sheikh Mohammed bin Jassim Al-Thani, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal Al-Thani, Sheikh Ali bin Abdullah Al-Thani and Saad Mohammad Al-Rumaihi. In a documentary produced by Al Kass sports channel about the history of the club, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim mentioned that the idea was suggested by Saad Al-Romaihi initially who was working as a sports journalist at Al Raya newspaper.
Al-Gharafa Sports Club was founded on 6 June 1979 and was formally created on 23 September 1979 as Al-Ittihad by the first president of the board of directors, Khalifa Bin Fahad Bin Mohammed Al-Thani (1979–1982) under resolution no. 9. Al-Gharafa was founded with the intent of creating sports facilities for the youth in the Al-Gharafa region. It did not occur to the leaders that Al-Gharafa would become as tremendously successful as it is today. The name "Al-Ittihad", which when translated into English, means "United", was chosen in the spirit of the brotherhood and solidarity that characterized the club and its leaders. Yellow and blue were selected as the club colors due to the founders' endearment towards the Brazilian national team. Al-Gharafa owes much of its success in the early years to the financial and material support of its Sheikh leaders.
As Al-Gharafa was established relatively late compared to other Qatari clubs at the time, it was sent to the Qatari 2nd Division. It dominated the league and won the title on its debut in the 1979/80 season with Egyptian coach Mahmoud Abu Rujaila, as well three more times, the second by defending the championship in the 1980/81 season, and the third in the 1983/84 season, which, subsequently, was the year that their youth team had also won the league. Their first foreign player was Faisal Hannan, a Sudanese footballer who agreed to a contract one year prior to the club's establishment. Additionally, they won the 1986/87 season of the 2nd Division, allowing them to play in the 1987–88 season of the Qatar Stars League. The club ended up winning its first Stars League title in 1991–92, breaking the 16-year deadlock between the three dominant Qatari clubs Al-Arabi, Al Sadd, and Al-Rayyan. Al-Gharafa's youth team also won the league a year later in the 1992/93 season. The club were runners-up in 1994 to Al-Arabi, before winning the Emir of Qatar Cup 4 times in a row, from 1995 til 1998.
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