The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the nineteenth edition of the

biannual An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saints. ...

Gulf Cup

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

, and took place in

Muscat Muscat ( ar, مَسْقَط, ) is the capital and most populated city in Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is s ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

, from 4 to 17 January 2009 and was won by

for the first time in its history, in a penalty shootout against regional rivals,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup marked as a milestone in the competition when it was broadcast for the first time in HD, and featured virtual graphics, such as distance between free kick barrier and the goal, 9.15 m circle for free-kicks, and off-side line detection with help from Al-Jazeera Sports. Many praised Al-Jazeera for their excellent coverage of the competition, noting that the camerawork was very similar to

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

The postponing of the competition

The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup was originally planned out to be held in 2008, but due to

Cyclone Gonu Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely powerful tropical cyclone that became the strongest cyclone on record in the Arabian Sea. The second named tropical cyclone of the 2007 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Gonu developed from a persis ...

damaging Muscat six months before the planned time of the event, it was then postponed to early 2009.

Teams

8 teams participated in the tournament. * (Host) * (Holder) * * * * * *

The Draw

* The draw was held in Oman on 29 October 2008. * Eight teams were divided into two groups,

(The host nation) was in group A, The

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

(The holder) in group B, while the rest of the teams were placed in a pot based in October 2008's

FIFA ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

. * Oman played the opening match at

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex The Sultan Qaboos Stadium at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex ( ar, مجمع السلطان قابوس الرياضي), also known locally as Boshar ( ar, بوشر), is a government-owned multi-purpose stadium in the Boshar district of Muscat, O ...

Seedings

Venues

Squads

Matches

Group A

---- ----

Group B

---- ----

Semi finals

Final

Winners

Goalscorers

;4 goals *

Hassan Rabia Hassan Rabia Suwaidan Al-Hosni ( ar, حسن ربيع سويدان الحوسني; born 1 February 1984), commonly known as Hassan Rabia, is an Omani association football, footballer who plays for Al-Suwaiq Club in Oman Professional League. Club ...

;2 goals *

Malek Mouath Malek Ali Mouath Al-Hawsawi ( ar, مالك علي معاذ الهوساوي) (also named Malek Maaz officially by FIFA ) (born 10 August 1981) is a former Saudi Arabian professional footballer. Mouath originally played as an attacking midfielde ...

Yasser Al-Qahtani Yasser Saeed Al-Qahtani ( ar, ياسر سعيد القحطاني; born 10 October 1982) is a former Saudi footballer who played as a forward for Al-Hilal FC in the Saudi Professional League. He was also captain of the Saudi Arabia national tea ...

* Ahmed Al-Fraidi * Ali Al Nono ;1 goal * Abdullah Al-Dakheel * Abdullah Omar *

Sayed Mohamed Adnan Sayed Mohamed Adnan ( ar, سيد محمد عدنان; born 5 February 1983) is a Bahraini footballer who once played for the national team, and currently playing for Al Hidd. International career He was a member of the Bahrain national football ...

Alaa Abdul-Zahra Alaa Abdul-Zahra Khashen Al-Azzawi ( ar, علاء عبدالزهرة خشَن العزاوي , born 22 December 1987 in Baghdad, Iraq), is an Iraqi football player who currently plays for Al-Shorta in the Iraqi Premier League. He is also a memb ...

Younis Mahmoud Younis Mahmoud Khalaf ( ar, يونس محمود خلف; born 3 February 1983) is an Iraqi former professional footballer who played as a forward for the Iraq national football team and is currently the second vice-president of the Iraq Football ...

Abdullah Al-Zori Abdullah Al-Zori Al-Dossary ( ar, عبد الله الزوري الدوسري; born 13 August 1987) is a Saudi Arabian professional footballer who currently plays as a left back for Al-Qadsiah. He is the son of former Al-Nahda player Mohammed Al- ...

;1 goal (cont.) * Abdullah Shuhail *

Ahmed Al-Mousa Ahmed Al Mousa is a former Saudi Arabian Association football, footballer. He started his career with Al-Ittihad (Jeddah), Al Ittihad before joining Al-Wahda (Mecca), Al-Wahda. He led Al Wahda to third place in the regular season before beating d ...

Ahmed Otaif Ahmed Otaif ( ar, أحمد عطيف; born 14 April 1983) is a retired Saudi professional footballer who played for Al-Shabab and the Saudi national team. He spent his entire playing career at Al-Shabab and captained the side from 2008 until his ...

Khaled Khalaf Khaled Ahmad Khalaf Matar ( ar, خالد أحمد خلف; born August 15, 1983, in Kuwait City) is a Kuwaiti footballer who plays in Attack for Kuwaiti Premier League club Al Arabi and the Kuwait national football team with his brothers in Al- ...

Musaed Neda Musaed Neda Al-Enazi ( ar, مساعد ندا العنزي) is a Kuwaiti football player. He currently plays for Al Qadisiya. Neda scored the first goals of a free directly in the final match against Kuwait Club. He scored three goals from dir ...

Badar Al-Maimani Badar Mubarak Saleh Al-Maimani ( ar, بدر مبارك صالح الميمني; born 16 July 1984), commonly known as Badar Al-Maimani, is an Omani Association football, football manager and a former footballer who is the current second assistan ...

Imad Al-Hosni Imad Ali Suleiman Al-Hosni ( ar, عماد علي سليمان الحوسني; born 18 July 1984), commonly known as Imad Al-Hosni or Al-Amda, is an Omani footballer who last played for Fanja SC in the Oman Professional League. Club career Al- ...

Fawzi Bashir Fawzi Bashir Rajab Bait Doorbeen ( ar, فوزي بشير رجب بيت دوربين; born 6 May 1984), commonly known as Fawzi Bashir, is an Omani former Association football, footballer who last played for Dhofar S.C.S.C. in Oman Professional Le ...

Majdi Siddiq Majdi Siddiq ( ar, مجدي صديق; born 3 September 1985) is a Qatari footballer of Sudanese descent. He currently plays as a midfielder for Al-Sailiya in the Qatar Stars League. He was a member of the Qatar national football team from 2004 t ...

* Musa Haroon * Mohammed Omar * Ismail Al-Hammadi * Mohamed Al-Shehhi

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Total goals by team

10 goals * 7 goals * 3 goals * * 2 goals * * * *

Trivia

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

president

Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...

came to

for the second time, and attended the

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, and the

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

games. *

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

president, and French football legend,

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, ...

attended the Oman/

, and the

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

games, both in the

. * Singer

Mohammed Abdo Mohammed Abdu ( ar, محمد عبده ; born June 12, 1949) is a Saudi singer who is renowned across the Middle East and Arab world. He has been described as "''Artist of the Arabs''." Early years Mohammed Abdu was born on June 12, 1949 in ...

attended the final match between Oman and his native, Saudi Arabia. * The Tournament took place during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, also known as the Gaza War, as a sign of solidarity toward the

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

, many fans waved pro-Palestinian banners and chanted pro-Palestinian

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan, political slogan, political, Advertising slogan, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the publi ...

s. Omani footballer Badr Al-Maimani also revealed a pro-Gaza undershirt after his free-kick goal against Bahrain. Also before the opening match played by

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, players wore shirts representing solidarity with Palestine. The Kuwaiti team also did the same in their opening match against Oman, but instead wore scarves.

References

External links

Official Site

Gulf Cup website (Arabic)

Live Matches
{{Gulf Cup of Nations

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

2009 in Asian football 2008–09 in Omani football 2008–09 in Emirati football 2008–09 in Yemeni football 2008–09 in Bahraini football 2008–09 in Saudi Arabian football 2008–09 in Kuwaiti football 2008–09 in Iraqi football 2008–09 in Qatari football Arabian Gulf Cup