News

Coach Winfred Schaefer's speech before the start of the 2021-2022 season.

When I arrived in Al Khor, I was asked to come to help in a very difficult situation. With only a few matches left, we knew we would have to fight till the last minute to save the club. We focused on confidence, stability and tactical discipline. Even though injuries and red cards made our mission more difficult, at the end we were able to overcome all challenges. After the last match our President Mohammed and I had a meeting and he asked me if I would stay with Al Khor. For us it was clear it would be a mission to rebuild the club and this can only be successful under very specific circumstances. First I said I would only do this if Mohammed would be at my side. You need a strong and experienced President for such a project, because you need to work with a long term plan and you need to be strong enough to accept moments of backslashes and brave enough to take risks. Mohammed and I talked long about everything that is necessary for a future success and we agreed that we would go this way together. We focus now on this season, but we plan for three, four years. We work with young players, talents who didn’t have much opportunity to play in their clubs. Some of them are not on the professional level they could be. That isn’t their fault. If you don’t play it doesn’t matter how hard your training is, you’ll not rise to the next level. Some also didn’t get the attention in the training that was necessary what may be a result of the pressure on the coaches to be successful on short term. In addition we have a handful of experienced players who have now huge responsibilities. They have to play on a high level to help the team but also need to lead the younger players. As mentioned before, this is only possible if we all, everybody in the club work together and support each other. From the President to the kitman, we are a team and we all give 100% for the success of Al Khor. So far I am very happy with the preparation. Al Khor is a bit special in the Qatar Star league, we represent a city that is geographically clear separated from Doha and that gives us maybe a bit more identification with the club and more specialty to our club