2011–12 Lekhwiya SC season

Madjid Bougherra scored a goal on his debut

Lekhwiya commenced their summer transfer activity by signing Iraqi national Nashat Akram from Al Wakrah on July 1.[1] They made arguably one of the biggest summer signings of all the Qatari clubs by signing Algerian international defender Madjid Bougherra from Rangers for £1.7m in August.[2] Big names who departed Lekhwiya included Jasur Hasanov and Abdeslam Ouaddou, both to Qatar SC.

Lekhwiya set up a training camp in UAE.[3] They played Al Ahli in a warm-up match, winning 1-0 courtesy of a Mohammed Razak goal in the 74th minute.[4]

They put pen-to-paper for a sponsorship deal with Masraf Al Rayyan, who will be the first and only sponsors of Lekhwiya, on May 11, 2011.[5]

They participated in the 2011 Qatari Stars Cup,[6] being seeded in group A; the more difficult of the two groups. They advancing through to the semi-finals with 4 wins and 1 loss in the group stage. They faced Al Wakrah in the semi-finals, losing 2-3, with Bakari Koné and Moumouni Dagano scoring a goal each.

Lekhwiya won the league title on March 26, 2012 after a hard fought draw against Al Arabi, with Ali Afif scoring the third-minute goal which proved crucial.[7] This was their second successive title on Djamel Belmadi. They were crowned champions with two games yet to be played.[8] Their league record at the time was 12 wins, 6 draws, and 2 losses.

Lekhwiya were drawn in Group C in the 2012 AFC Champions League, featuring Sepahan, Al-Nasr and Al-Ahli.[9] They selected Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium as their home venue for their champions league matches, as it was the venue of the reigning champions, Al-Sadd. It is the first-ever regional competition Lekhwiya has ever participated in.

On 7 March 2012, Lekhwiya played their first match against Al-Ahli at home. They won the match 1-0 in front of a large home crowd consisting of many supporters of both clubs. Despite Moumouni Dagano missing a penalty early on, Nam Tae-Hee helped his team record a victory by scoring a late goal from midfield.[10]

On 21 March 2012, they played against Al-Nasr in Dubai. Moumouni Dagano scored the only goal in a 2-1 loss. The match was marred by controversy as Lekhwiya had 2 goals ruled offside in the late stages of the game, only to have Amara Diané score the winning goal in additional time.[11]

In

Name	Position	Moving from	Notes
Jon Kwang-Ik	Defender	Amrokgang
Nam Tae-Hee	Midfielder	Valenciennes FC	[12]
Kanga Akalé	Striker	RC Lens	[13]
Ali Afif	Striker	Al Sadd	[14]
Mohammed Muddather	Defender	Al-Wakrah	[14]
Moumouni Dagano	Striker	Al-Khor	[15]
Nashat Akram	Midfielder	Al-Wakrah	[1]
Adel Lami	Midfielder	Umm Salal	[1]
Ismaeel Mohammad	Midfielder	Youth system	[1]
Lassina Diaby	Striker	Qatar SC	[1]
Rami Fayez	Midfielder	Al-Rayyan	[1]
Ahmed Ali Hatimi	Goalkeeper	Al Sailiya	[1]
Madjid Bougherra	Defender	Rangers	[2]
Anouar Diba	Midfielder	Al-Wakrah	[1]

Out

Name	Position	Moving to	Notes
Mohammed al-Haj	Defender	Umm Salal	[16]
Rami Fayez	Midfielder	Umm Salal	[17]
Anouar Diba	Midfielder	Released	[18]
Nashat Akram	Midfielder	Released	[19]
Kanga Akalé	Striker	End of contract	[20]
Aruna Dindane	Striker	Al-Gharafa	[21]
Tresor Kangambu	Midfielder	Al-Wakrah	[1]
Jasur Hasanov	Midfielder	Qatar SC	[1]
Abdeslam Ouaddou	Defender	Qatar SC	[1]
Abbasi Madani	Defender	Al Kharitiyath	[1]