1969–1980: Foundation and beginnings played for the club from 1979 to 1991. Al Sadd was established in 1969 by Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah and his relatives; they excelled in playing football, and refused to join other clubs at the time and decided to make their own club. The reason behind the club's name is that Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah was born and raised in the
Al Sadd district of
Doha. They consulted with Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, who was the minister of Youth and Sports at the time, at his residence on Al Rayyan Road. He obliged their request, and the next morning, the youth signed the necessary applications and created a club statue which they presented to Abdulaziz Buwazair, the operating manager of the Supreme Sports Committee, resulting in the formation of Al Sadd Sports Club. Many of the early players and supporters were remnants of Al Ahrar SC, a club which was formed in 1961, also in the district of Al Sadd. The name "Al Ahrar" translates to "the free people", and was chosen to honor the
Free Officers Movement led by
Gamal Abdel Nasser. It was one of the several early football clubs in Qatar named in honor of a
Pan-Arabism movement. By order of ministerial decree, Al Ahrar was merged with another Qatari football club named Al Nasr in 1964. Playing its home matches at the
Doha Stadium, Al Ahrar played numerous matches abroad in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Following a mass brawl between Al Ahrar and Al Najah in a
1967–68 Qatari League match attended by Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the sheikh decided to "permanently and immediately" shut down the club and redistribute its players to other teams, paving the way to the formation of Al Sadd's early squad. The main founder of Al Sadd, Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah, states that he and the other founders watched all of Al Ahrar's matches as a youth, and that its closure inspired he and his friends to draft plans for their own team. In their initial year of establishment, Hamad bin Mubarak Al Attiyah coached the club and the team trained on a football pitch in a local high school. Meanwhile, the founder of Al Sadd, Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah, was overseeing the club's performance and making crucial decisions. The club won the first-ever league title in 1971–72. However, this was one year before the league was officially recognized. Thus, they won their first official QSL title in
1973–74. Sadd, along with
Al Arabi and
Al Rayyan, went on to dominate Qatari football in the 70s and the 80s by winning many Qatari League trophies and
Emir Cups. Youssef Saad, a Sudanese forward who played for the club since its inception, was the first ever professional player to officially join the ranks of Al Sadd. In 1974, while Al Sadd was still in its infancy, they dubiously transferred 14 players, including
Mubarak Anber and
Hassan Mattar, and head coach
Hassan Othman from
Al Esteqlal (later to be known as Qatar SC), much to the dismay of club président Hamad bin Suhaim. Transfers could be made unconditionally during this time, meaning Esteqlal's protests were in vain. This was a major factor in them winning their first cup championship the next year in 1975. They defeated
Al Ahli 4–3 in a tightly contested match under the leadership of Hassan Osman in order to claim the
Emir Cup. Their goals came from Youssef Saad, who scored a brace, and Ali Bahzad and Abdullah Zaini. To this day, it is the joint-largest score in an Emir Cup final match. They won the first ever
Sheikh Jassim Cup held in 1977–78, as well as winning it two more times in the next two years. In 1978–79, the club succeeded in achieving their first domestic double by winning both, the Sheikh Jassim Cup and the league, accomplishing the same feat the next season.
1980–2000: First international success In 1981–82, they won the Emir Cup and Sheikh Jassim Cup, once again under the reigns of
Hassan Othman. During this period,
Badr Bilal and Hassan Mattar, both of whom were top scorers in the league at one point, led the team to victories in both of the finals. Al Sadd also succeeded in setting a domestic record by defeating
Al-Shamal SC 16–2, the largest recorded win in a professional football match in the country's history. In August 1985, Al Sadd shifted their headquarters to a new building equipped with modern furnishings and facilities. Al Sadd won their Champions League debut in
1988 (then known as Asian Club Championship), where they secured the top position in their group. They faced
Al-Rasheed of Iraq in the final, defeating them on away goals, thus fending the Iraqis off in order to claim the title of the first Arab team to ever win the championship. The victorious team was largely made up locals, with the exception of Lebanese Wassef Soufi and Iranian Amir Ghalenoii, who did not participate in the final due to the
Iran–Iraq War. In addition to winning the Asian Champions League, they won the Sheikh Jassim Cup and the league on that year. They were the first team to play in Iran after the Iran–Iraq War, losing 1–0 to
Esteghlal in an
ACC match in 1991. In 2007, under the command of Uruguayan coach
Jorge Fossati, they achieved a
quadruple by winning all four domestic cups. They were the first Qatari team to do so, and had also set a league record for the highest winning streak by winning 10 leagues games in a row. In addition, they made a record signing in Qatari football by paying $22 million for the Argentinian
Mauro Zárate the same year. In 2010, they were the second team to ever win the
QNB Cup by defeating
Umm Salal in the final.
2010–2012: Second Fossatti era Al Sadd was placed in the qualifying play-offs of the
2011 Champions League, courtesy of the disqualification of Vietnamese teams due to the non-submission of documents. They beat Al-Ittihad of Syria and Indian club,
Dempo SC, 5–1 and 2–0 respectively, to acquire a spot in the group stage. Al Sadd, who were the definite underdogs, overcame the odds and topped their group to play against
Al-Shabab, whom they beat 1–0. The quarter-final against
Sepahan would mark the first sign of controversy for the club. Sepahan had initially won the first-leg match against Al Sadd 1–0; however, after the match, Al Sadd lodged a formal complaint to the AFC as Sepahan had fielded an ineligible player,
Rahman Ahmadi, who previously received two yellow cards in the tournament with his former club. The match was overturned 3–0 in favor of Al Sadd, virtually ensuring the club a place in the semi-finals. They later faced
Suwon Samsung Bluewings in a highly publicized semi-final. Suwon were favorites to win after knocking last year's runners-up,
Zob Ahan, out of the running. The first-leg match was played in
Suwon, South Korea. In the 70th minute of the match,
Mamadou Niang of Al Sadd had a deflected shot veer past the goalkeeper, settling the score 1–0. Ten minutes later, a Suwon player was inadvertently kicked in the head by an Al Sadd defender, prompting Suwon to kick the ball out of play. While the injured Suwon player was being tended to, Niang sprinted past the keeper to score a second goal, infuriating the Suwon players. The chaos was elevated when a Suwon fan had run onto the pitch, sparking a mass melee which involved both coaching staff and players. After the fight was brought to a halt, the referee sent off a player from each team while Niang later got a red card and Al Sadd's Korean defender
Lee Jung-soo had walked off the pitch in frustration. The melee prompted official investigation from the AFC, who suspended three players from both teams for six games. Al Sadd lost the second leg 1–0, though this allowed them to advance to the final with a 2–1 aggregate to face
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. Al Sadd later received the nickname
"Al-Badd" from the Korean media as a result of their semi-final confrontations. . They won the
2011 AFC Champions League Final against
Jeonbuk, 4–2 on penalties. This earned them a spot in the
2011 FIFA Club World Cup. To date, this is the best result achieved by a Qatari team in the AFC Champions League under its new format. Al Sadd also became the first team to reach the AFC Champions League knockout stage after starting their campaign in the play-offs in February. Furthermore, Al Sadd was crowned "AFC Club of the Year" in 2011 by
AFC after their Champions League conquest. Following their 2011 championship, in honor of the club's owner, the club modified their logo, adding two stars to commemorate their victories in the AFC Champions League in 1988 and 2011. During the
2011 FIFA Club World Cup, Al Sadd was eliminated in the semi-final stage by
Barcelona, which set up a third-place meeting between them and
Kashiwa Reysol. This was the first time two clubs from the same confederation faced off each other in a third-place match. Al Sadd won the encounter on penalties in order to be the first West Asian club to claim the bronze medal in the FIFA Club World Cup.
2012–present: Post-ACL champions in
2018 AFC Champions League After the departure of Fossati, former Al Sadd midfielder
Hussein Amotta was named as the new coach in May 2012. The Moroccan had finished as the Qatar League top scorer during his four-year stay at the club from 1997 to 2001. He was working as the club's technical director prior to being promoted to the top job. Just days before Amouta's appointment, Al Sadd announced the high-profile signing of former
Real Madrid captain
Raúl, who arrived on a free transfer from
Schalke 04. Managed by Amouta and led by new captain Raúl, Al Sadd set a league record for the best start to the league season ever by winning all of their first nine games, shattering the previous record set by
Al Gharafa, who had won seven. Al Sadd faltered in the next two seasons, however, finishing third and second in
2013–14 and
2014–15 respectively, as Lekhwiya returned to win back-to-back titles once again. In 2015, Al Sadd achieved the coup of signing Barcelona's storied Spanish international
Xavi. In 2019 he ended his career as a professional player at the club to start there his career as football manager. With Qatar as the host of the
2019 FIFA Club World Cup when announced by the FIFA Council on 3 June 2019, Al Sadd automatically qualified as the host club team. With Xavi as manager, Al Sadd won six cups and one championship title between 2019 and 2021. Xavi departed in 2021 to fill the managerial role at his boyhood club Barcelona. ==Stadium and facilities==