Al Gharafa’s search for a new head coach is over. The cheetah’s have announced they have secured the services of Portuguese head coach Pedro Caixinha. The former Santos Laguna coach replaced Brazilian tactician Pericles Chamusca who was sacked last month, after a string of bad results.

Caixinha is no stranger to the middle east, having two separate stints in Saudi Arabia as an assistant coach, first with club side Al Hilial between 2006/2007 and then with the Saudi national team between 2009/2010.

The first task for the former goalkeeper will be to revive the fortunes of Al Gharafa who are without a win in five QSL games. The cheetahs are currently in tenth position in the table, and are in danger of getting sucked into the relegation dog-fight if results don’t change quickly.
Al Gharafa take on bottom side Meisameer in round 15 of the Qatar Stars League.