[2] Al Sadd is the most successful sports club in the country, and holds a national record of 64 official football championships.

After consulting the minister of Youth and Sports, the family, led by Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, decided to found the club on 21 October 1969 in Qatar's capital city, Doha.

Twenty-two years later, they won the 2011 AFC Champions League and earned a spot in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup, in which Al Sadd finished third.

The reason behind the club's name is that Ali Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah was born and raised in Al-Sadd area.

Moreover, 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.

[5] 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.

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.

They defeated Al Ahli 4–3 in a tightly contested match under the leadership of Hassan Osman in order to claim the Emir Cup.

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.

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.

[9] They were the first team to play against English side Cheadle Town on their home grounds, Park Road Stadium, under the leadership of Jimmy Meadows in 1982.

[12] 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.

[14] In addition, they made a record signing in Qatari football by paying $22 million for the Argentinian Mauro Zárate the same year.

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[15] 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.

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.

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.

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.

[18] 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 also became the first team to reach the AFC Champions League knockout stage after starting their campaign in the play-offs in February.

Championship 2011 in honor of the club's owner changed the team logo and stars to commemorate the AFC Champions League 1988.2011 was etched on the shirt Wolves.

[23] 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.

[25] 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.

[14] The team went on to break Lekhwiya's two-year dominance by winning the 2012–13 Qatar Stars League title, five years after their last triumph in the competition.

Following their impressive AFC Champions League campaign in 2011, the logo was modified and released in June 2012 to include two golden stars on the top to mark the two Asian titles of 1989 and 2011.

Domestic Continental International Qatar Stars League Top scorers Notes: Early years statistics are primarily unknown.Names in bold are players who are still at the club at present.