The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the

Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation The Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF; ar, إتحاد كأس الخليج العربي لكرة القدم) is a regional association football body for eight member countries. It was established in May 2016, and its main competition is th ...

for its eight member nations. The history of the competition has also seen it held every three to four years due to political or organisational problems.

History

The idea for the tournament was established at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport ev ...

, and the first Arabian Gulf Cup took place in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

which was won by

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 Iraq–Ku ...

. Kuwait has been the most successful team in the tournament's history, winning 10 tournaments out of 24 in total, while

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 Ara ...

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

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 ...

all have three titles. The current champions are

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 a ...

, who defeated

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

to win their first title. In 2017, the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including

, the

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

and

, cut

diplomatic ties Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

with

. In July 2019, the AGCFF announced that the 24th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup will be held in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor, it is home to m ...

. In October 2019, the three countries also announced to boycott the tournament. Later in November 2019, the three countries announced to take part in the 24th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup tournament to be hosted by Qatar.

Developments

A major point that helped Qatar improve the competition was the fact that

Al Jazeera Sports beIN Sports MENA ( ar, بي إن سبورتس العربية) is a subsidiary of beIN Sports. It is based in Doha, Qatar, serving the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. They are owned by beIN Media Group, a former subsidiary of Al Jaze ...

, the leading sports channel in

Western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes A ...

, and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

is based in

. Al Jazeera Sports won broadcasting rights to the 2004, and exclusively in the

19th Arabian Gulf Cup The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي) was the nineteenth edition of the biannual Gulf Cup competition, and took place in Muscat, Oman, from 4 to 17 January 2009 and was won by Oman for the first time in its history, ...

in 2009 after a deal ending in million, and dramatically reformed the Arabian Gulf Cup by hosting numerous talk shows and documentaries, on top of filming in HD and perfecting camerawork of matches. The tournament marked the presence of some of the most influential personalities of the football world, including

FIFA President The following is a list of presidents of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the world association football governing body. Presidents Daniel Burley Woolfall, Rodolphe Seeldrayers, and Arthur Drewry died during the ...

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 o ...

, and

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 fo ...

president,

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, a ...

. The

FIFA Executive Committee The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congress. ...

has also put on their October 4, 2013 meeting agenda to hear the proposal for the Arabian Gulf Cup to be included in the international match calendar.

Results

Winners Summary

Note: *An asterisk (*) beside the year in the above table means that country hosted the tournament.

Medals (1970-2019)

Being in the semi-finals is considered as a bronze medal.

Participating nations

Legend: * #: Invitee * Red border: Host nation * Blank: Did not enter * TBD: To be determined * GS: Group stage * SF: Semi-finalists (No third place match) * WD: Withdrew Note: * was banned from the competition from 1992 to 2003. * have not yet won the championship nor even won a single competitive game. * There were no third place play-offs for the Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2017–18, and 2019.

Summary (1970-2019)

Source: Note: This table excludes 11 annulled games: #

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

(Bahrain were ejected from the competition) #

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

(Iraq withdrew from the competition) #

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

(Iraq withdrew from the competition)

All-time goal records

All-time goal records by Tournaments:Statistics made by contributor based on information found o
gulfcup.com
* reached 100 goals on 3 March 1988 vs * reached 100 goals on 19 October 1996 vs * reached 100 goals on 16 December 2004 vs * reached 100 goals on 2 December 2010 vs * reached 100 goals on 11 January 2013 vs * reached 100 goals on 11 January 2013 vs ''Does not include goals from annulled or abandoned games (1972 – games, 1982 & 1990 games)'' ''Includes 1974 preliminary round games'' ''Does not include penalty shoot-out goals''

All-time top scorers

:''Updated on 4 December 2019.'' Players in bold are still active

Golden boot history

Other records

* Biggest win – 8 goals : 8–0 (29 March 1976) * Most goals in a game – 8 goals : 8–0 (29 March 1976) * Most individual goals in a single game – 5 goals : Majed Abdullah, (3 April 1979 vs ) :

Jassem Al Houwaidi Jasem Mohammed Ibrahim Al Huwaidi ( ar, جاسم محمد ابراهيم الهويدي, born 28 October 1972 in Kuwait City) is a retired Kuwaiti footballer who played as a forward. Career He was part of the Kuwaiti national football team ...

, (1998 vs ) * Most individual goals in a single tournament – 10 goals :

Hussein Saeed Hussein Saeed Mohammed ( ar, حسين سعيد محمد, born 21 January 1958) is an Iraqi former footballer who played as a forward for the Iraqi Premier League club Al-Talaba and the Iraqi national team and is a former president of the Iraq ...

, (1979)

References

External links

* * * * * {{International football Gulf Cooperation Council Football in the Arab world Union of Arab Football Associations competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1970