Misplaced Pages

25th Arabian Gulf Cup

كأس الخليج العربي 25
Tournament details
Host country	Iraq
Dates	6–19 January 2023
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Iraq (4th title)
Runners-up	Oman
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	39 (2.6 per match)
Attendance	665,495 (44,366 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aymen Hussein Ibrahim Bayesh (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ibrahim Bayesh
Best goalkeeper	Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini
← 2019 2024–25 →

The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, known as Khaleeji Zain 25 for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation. The tournament was hosted in Iraq for the first time since 1979, in the host city of Basra.

Hosts Iraq won their fourth title by beating Oman 3–2 after extra time in the final.

Teams

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Rankings
			October 2022
Qatar	25th	Winners (1992, 2004, 2014)	50
Saudi Arabia	24th	Winners (1994, 2002, 2003–04)	51
Iraq (hosts)	16th	Winners (1979, 1984, 1988)	68
United Arab Emirates	24th	Winners (2007, 2013)	70
Oman	23rd	Winners (2009, 2017–18)	75
Bahrain (holders)	25th	Winners (2019)	85
Kuwait	25th	Winners (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010)	149
Yemen	10th	Group stage (2003–04, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017–18, 2019)	155

Draw

The draw was held on 25 October 2022 at 11:00 UTC+3 at the Grand Millennium Al Seef in Basra. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots. For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2022. Pot 1 contained the hosts Iraq and the holders Bahrain, who were assigned to A1 and A2 respectively.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Iraq (68) (hosts)  Bahrain (85) (holders)	Qatar (50)  Saudi Arabia (51)	United Arab Emirates (70)  Oman (75)	Kuwait (149)  Yemen (155)

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Venues

Basra
Basra International Stadium	Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 65,227	Capacity: 30,000

Officials

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq (H)	3	2	1	0	7	0	+7	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Oman	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Iraq	0–0	Oman
	Report

Yemen	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Nabit 18' Al-Juwayr 34' (pen.)

Oman	3–2	Yemen
Fadhl 2' (o.g.) A. Al-Alawi 37' Al-Sabhi 47'	Report	Al-Matari 12' (pen.) O. Al-Dahi 30'

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Iraq
	Report	Bayesh 30' Rostam 86'

Iraq	5–0	Yemen
Nadhim 40' Attwan 64' Hussein 74' (pen.), 75' Ali 88'	Report

Saudi Arabia	1–2	Oman
Al-Ammar 41'	Report	R. Al-Alawi 34' Al-Saadi 84'

Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Qatar	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
3	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
4	United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

Bahrain	2–1	United Arab Emirates
Al-Aswad 60' Al-Shaikh 77'	Report	Tagliabúe 90+2'

Kuwait	0–2	Qatar
	Report	Surag 21' Alaaeldin 37' (pen.)

United Arab Emirates	0–1	Kuwait
	Report	Al-Dhefiri 90+3'

Qatar	1–2	Bahrain
Alaaeldin 34'	Report	Waad 72' (o.g.) Yusuf 89' (pen.)

Bahrain	1–1	Kuwait
Al-Humaidan 26'	Report	Al-Khaldi 45'

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Qatar
Lima 77'	Report	Al-Abdullah 88'

Knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	16 January 2023 – Basra
	Iraq	2
					19 January 2023 – Basra
	Qatar	1
					Iraq (a.e.t.)	3
	16 January 2023 – Basra
					Oman	2
	Bahrain	0
	Oman	1

Semi-finals

Iraq	2–1	Qatar
Bayesh 19' Hussein 43'	Report	Surag 28'

Bahrain	0–1	Oman
	Report	Al-Yahmadi 83'

Final

Iraq	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Oman
Bayesh 24' Attwan 116' (pen.) Younis 120+2'	Report	Al-Yahyaei 90+10' (pen.) Al-Malki 119'

Winner

25th Arabian Gulf Cup Winner
Iraq Fourth title

Goalscorers

There were 39 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.6 goals per match.

3 goals

• Ibrahim Bayesh
• Aymen Hussein

2 goals

• Amjad Attwan
• Ahmed Alaaeldin
• Amro Surag

1 goal

• Mahdi Abdullatif
• Kamil Al-Aswad
• Jasim Al-Shaikh
• Abdulla Yusuf Helal
• Hussein Ali Al-Saedi
• Mustafa Nadhim
• Aso Rostam
• Manaf Younis
• Ahmed Al-Dhefiri
• Shabaib Al-Khaldi
• Arshad Al-Alawi
• Rabia Al-Alawi
• Omar Al-Maliki
• Harib Al-Saadi
• Issam Al-Sabhi
• Jameel Al-Yahmadi
• Salaah Al-Yahyaei
• Tameem Al-Abdullah
• Turki Al-Ammar
• Musab Al-Juwayr
• Sumayhan Al-Nabit
• Fábio Lima
• Sebastián Tagliabúe
• Omar Al-Dahi
• Abdulwasea Al-Matari

1 own goal

• Mohammed Waad (against Bahrain)
• Ali Fadhl (against Oman)

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Final phase
1	Iraq	5	4	1	0	12	3	+9	13
2	Oman	5	3	1	1	8	6	+2	10
3	Bahrain	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7
4	Qatar	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4
Eliminated in the group stage
5	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
6	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
7	United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
8	Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Prize money and awards

Prize money

Player awards

The following awards were given:

Award	Player
Top Scorer	Aymen Hussein
Most Valuable Player	Ibrahim Bayesh
Best Goalkeeper	Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini

Broadcasters

Middle East

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
Bahrain	Bahrain Sport
Iraq	Al-Iraqiya Sports Alrabiaa Sports UTV Al-Sharqiya Al-Sumaria
Jordan	Jordan Sport
Kuwait	KTV Sports
Saudi Arabia	KSA Sport
Oman	Oman Sports
Qatar	Alkass
United Arab Emirates	AD Sports Dubai Sports Sharjah Sports

Rest of the world

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
Bosnia and Herzegovina  Croatia  Montenegro  North Macedonia  Serbia  Slovenia	Sport Klub
Poland	Polsat Sport
Greece	Nova Sports

Controversies

Opening ceremony

Ahead of the opening ceremony, a scuffle ensued in the VIP section of the Basra International Stadium. Sheikh Fahad al-Nasser, who represents Kuwait's emir, was unable to enter as a result, and the Kuwaiti delegation left the stadium soon after. The Iraqi representatives apologised for the incident.

Crowd stampede

A stampede outside Basra International Stadium, ahead of the final, killed one person and injured up to 60 others, according to reports. The incident was said to have been caused by thousands of fans without tickets turning up to the match early while the gates were still closed. In the afternoon, Basra authorities said the situation was under control and that the crowds had moved away from the stadium, and the final match went underway as scheduled.

See also

• 2023 WAFF Championship
• 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• 2023 SAFF Championship
• 2022 AFF Championship
• 2023 AFC Asian Cup

References

1. "نحو شراكة رائدة ونجاح مثمر مرتقب .. اتحاد كأس الخليج العربي لكرة القدم يتفق مع مجموعة زين لرعاية خليجي 25" (in Arabic). Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation. 29 December 2022.
2. Lucente, Adam (19 January 2023). "Iraq wins Arabian Gulf Cup championship defeating Oman in Basra". Al-Monitor.
3. "قرعة "خليجي 25".. العودة إلىسحب قرعة كأس الخليج العربي "خليجي 25"" (in Arabic). beIN Sports. 25 October 2022.
4. "Stage set for Arabian Gulf Cup draw". 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
5. "قرعة "خليجي 25".. العودة إلى العراق بعد 40 سنة" (in Arabic). Emarat Al-Youm. 24 October 2022.
6. الدقاق, المعتصم بالله (2023-01-17). "جائزة المركز الأول في كأس الخليج 2023 بطولة خليجي 25". خبرني (in Arabic). Retrieved 2023-01-21.
7. "سيطرة عراقية على الجوائز الفردية لكأس الخليج". 19 January 2023.
8. "Match. Yemen vs. Saudi Arabia". livesoccertv.com. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
9. "Arabian Gulf Cup 2023 na sportowych antenach Polsatu". polsatsport.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 11 January 2023.
10. "Brawl at Arabian Gulf Cup shocks onlookers, forces Kuwaiti delegation to leave". Al Arabiya English. 2023-01-07. Retrieved 2023-01-20.
11. "Deadly crush outside Iraq football stadium before Gulf Cup final". BBC. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 2023-01-21.
12. "Ticketless fans, organisers blamed for Iraq stadium stampede - Football News - Al Jazeera". Al Jazeera. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
13. "25th Gulf Cup: Seats secured by Iraq government for Omani fans to attend Gulf Cup final". Times of Oman. 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-01-21.

v t e Arabian Gulf Cup
Tournaments	Bahrain 1970 Saudi Arabia 1972 Kuwait 1974 Qatar 1976 Iraq 1979 United Arab Emirates 1982 Oman 1984 Bahrain 1986 Saudi Arabia 1988 Kuwait 1990 Qatar 1992 United Arab Emirates 1994 Oman 1996 Bahrain 1998 Saudi Arabia 2002 Kuwait 2003–04 Qatar 2004 United Arab Emirates 2007 Oman 2009 Yemen 2010 Bahrain 2013 Saudi Arabia 2014 Kuwait 2017–18 Qatar 2019 Iraq 2023 Kuwait 2024–25 Saudi Arabia 2026
Finals	1970 1972 1974 1976 1979 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2002 2003–04 2004 2007 2009 2010 2013 2014 2017–18 2019 2023 2024–25
Squads	1970 1972 1974 1976 1979 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2002 2003–04 2004 2007 2009 2010 2013 2014 2017–18 2019 2023 2024–25
Category:Arabian Gulf Cup

• Arabian Gulf Cup
• 2023 in Asian football
• International association football competitions hosted by Iraq
• January 2023 sports events in Iraq
• 25th Arabian Gulf Cup