The FIFA Arab Cup (), or Arab Cup, is an international

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

competition organized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. It is held every four years with the participation of senior men's national teams of the

Union of Arab Football Associations The Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA; ; ) is the governing body of football in the Arab League. Established in 1974, UAFA is an independent body comprising 22 member associations: twelve from Asia and ten from Africa. UAFA organises a n ...

(UAFA), the governing body for countries in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

. The current champion is

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, which won its first title at the 2021 tournament in Qatar. The championship's inaugural edition was in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, held in Lebanon, which was won by

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. After having been played in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, the Arab Cup was halted for almost 20 years, before being contested in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. The tournament was played five more times until

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, the last competition organized by the UAFA. The 2021 edition was the first organized by FIFA. The ten Arab Cup tournaments have been won by six national teams.

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

have won four times; the other Arab Cup winners are

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, with two titles; Algeria,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and inaugural winner

, with one title each. Seven countries have hosted the Arab Cup. Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have each hosted twice, while Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan and Syria have each hosted once. All Arab Cups have been held in Asia.

History

The initial idea for the conception of an Arab Cup came in 1957 from Lebanese journalist

Nassif Majdalani Nassif Majdalani (; 10 October 1913 – 8 January 1988) was a Lebanese sports journalist, radio and television presenter, as well as president of the Lebanon Football Association (LFA) – which he helped found in 1933 – between 1946 and 1949. ...

and the Secretary General of the

Lebanese Football Association The Lebanese Football Association (LFA; ; ) is the governing body of association football in Lebanon. Formed in 1933, it is a member of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, AFC. It is also one of the founding members of the West Asian ...

(LFA) Izzat Al Turk. In 1962, the LFA called for the formal establishment of the tournament through their president Georges Dabbas, who organised a general Arab assembly for the formation of the Arab Cup. The first Arab Cup was held in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

between April and May 1963, with the participation of five teams. During the 16-year hiatus between 1966 and 1982, the Arab Cup was ''de facto'' replaced by the Palestine Cup, which was held three times in the 1970s and then became a youth tournament after the return of the Arab Cup in the 1980s. The 1992 Arab Cup was also organised as part of the 1992 Arab Games. The 2021 edition was the first edition to be organised by

; the competition was renamed FIFA Arab Cup. Following the 2021 final, FIFA President

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (); (born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss-Italian Association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and the president of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 26 Febr ...

announced that FIFA would continue to oversee future editions. On 15 May 2024, FIFA announced that

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

will host the tournament in 2025, 2029 and 2033, and the tournament will follow the principle of an invitational competition not included in the International Match Calendar.

Results

;Keys * a.e.t.:

after extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a Tie (draw), tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is ...

* p:

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

* awd: awarded result. * TBD: to be determined. ;Notes

Teams reaching the top four

* ''hosts''

Best performances by confederations

Records and statistics

Comprehensive team results by tournament

;Legend * – Champions * – Runners-up * – Third place * – Fourth place * – Semi-final (no third place match) *GS – Group stage *''Q'' — Qualified for upcoming tournament * — Did not qualify * — Did not participate * — Hosts For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament are shown (in parentheses).

Notes

References

External links

*
Arab Cup
at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arab Cup FIFA competitions for national teams Union of Arab Football Associations competitions International association football competitions in Africa International association football competitions in Asia International association football competitions in West Asia Recurring sporting events established in 1963