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 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 ...

for the first time since

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, in the host city of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

. Hosts

won their fourth title by beating

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 ...

3–2 after extra time in the final.

Teams

Draw

The draw was held on 25 October 2022 at at the Grand Millennium Al Seef in

. 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 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 ...

of October 2022. Pot 1 contained the hosts Iraq and the holders Bahrain, who were assigned to A1 and A2 respectively.

Squads

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

Venues

Officials

Referees *

Ma Ning Ma Ning (; 1922 – 3 December 2010) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and major general of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). A decorated army veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War, he transferred ...

* Ali Sabah * Abdullah Jamali * Ahmed Al-Kaf * Salman Falahi * István Kovács * Shukri Al-Hanfoush * Adnan Al-Naqbi * Ilgiz Tantashev Assistant Referees * Zhang Cheng * Zhou Fei * Rashid Abdi * Rashad Al-Hakmani * Ovidiu-Mihai Artene * Vasile Marinescu * Zahi Al-Shammari * Khaled Ayed Video Assistant Referees *

Fu Ming Fu Ming (born 5 January 1983) is a Chinese football referee. He has been a full international referee for FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Footba ...

* Mohanad Qasim * Jérémie Pignard * Rédouane Jiyed * Abdullah Al-Marri * Abdullah Al-Shehri * Ahmed Darwish

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Winner

Goalscorers

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Prize money and awards

Prize money

Source:

Player awards

The following awards were given:

Broadcasters

Middle East Rest of the world

Controversies

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. A stampede outside Basra International Stadium, ahead of the final, killed between one and four people and injured at least 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. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, president of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation, praised the outstanding organization of the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup by hosts Iraq, calling it a big success.

References

{{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