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All eyes on Olunga as Al Duhail face Al Gharafa in Amir Cup final

Football

By Washington Onyango | Mar 18, 2022

**Gor mahia's Michael Olunga with his player of the year award during the 2015 SJAK/KPL awards ceremony at Safari Park Hotel on Dec. 9, 2015**. [PHOTO/JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga will be on center stage when his club Al Duhail takes on Al Gharafa from 7 pm East African Time on Friday in the Amir Cup final set to be played at the iconic Khalifa International Stadium in Qatar.

Olunga will be seeking to end the season with a trophy after a memorable campaign that has seen him win the 2021 Asian Champions League top scorer award.

Olunga was on target when Al Duhail knocked out defending champions Al Sadd 3-2 to march into the final on Monday where Tunisian Ferjani Sassi bagged a brace.

Al Duhail comes into this fixture boasting an impressive head-to-head record in recent times.

Since Olunga’s arrival in Qatar in January 2021, Al Duhail have not lost to Al Gharafa, winning four times (Olunga played in two).

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In his first fixture against Al Gharafa on February 18 in the Qatar Cup, Olunga came on as a second-half substitute in their 2-1 win.

The last time these two sides met was in January this year when Olunga netted once in a 4-2 victory at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha.

Featuring all first and second division in Qatar; The Amir Cup is the biggest football cup competition in the country.

The Amir Cup was first played in 1972/73 and was won by Al Ahli. The event is contested every season by all QNB Stars League and Second Division teams.

The most successful team are Al Sadd who won the tournament 16 times followed by Al Arabi who have bagged the title on 8 occasions.

Al Duhail are the defending champions. The Amir Cup has undergone a few changes since it was first played in the early 70s.

In 1999, it was decided to include Second Division sides along with the top tier teams playing for Qatar national league title.

In 2004, the tournament was planned in such a manner that the event would last five stages. Al-Sadd have won the Amir Cup 16 times having bagged two back-to-back titles at the expense of Al Sailiya and the El Jaish. Followed by Al-Arabi who won the title on eight occasions, Al-Gharafa 7, Al-Rayyan 6, Al-Ahli 4, Al-Duhail 3, Qatar Sports Club 2 titles and lastly Umm Salal with one title.