19th Arabian Gulf Cup

The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup (Arabic: كأس الخليج العربي) was the nineteenth edition of the biannual Gulf Cup competition. It took place in Muscat, Oman, from 4 to 17 January 2009, with Oman emerging as the winner for the first time in its history,^[1] following a penalty shootout against regional rivals Saudi Arabia.

19th Arabian Gulf Cup

'الخلیج العربي Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi, or Khaleeji 19
19th Arabian Gulf Cup official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Oman
Dates	4–17 January
Teams	8
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Oman (1st title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	31 (2.07 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hassan Rabia (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Majed Al-Marshedi
Best goalkeeper	Ali Al-Habsi
← 2007 2010 →

The 19th Arabian Gulf Cup marked 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.^[2] Many praised Al-Jazeera for their excellent coverage of the competition, noting that the camerawork was very similar to UEFA Euro 2008.

The postponing of the competition

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

•  Oman (Host)
•  United Arab Emirates (Holder)
•  Bahrain
•  Iraq
•  Kuwait
•  Qatar
•  Saudi Arabia
•  Yemen

The Draw

• The draw was held in Oman on 29 October 2008.
• Eight teams were divided into two groups, Oman (The host nation) was in group A, The UAE (The holder) in group B, while the rest of the teams were placed in a pot based in October 2008's FIFA ranking.
• Oman played the opening match at Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.

Seedings

Pot	National Team	FIFA Ranking
A	Oman (Host)	96
	United Arab Emirates (Holder)	110
B	Saudi Arabia	48
	Bahrain	80
C	Iraq	72
	Qatar	84
D	Kuwait	127
	Yemen	145

Venues

Muscat	Muscat
Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex	Royal Oman Police Stadium
Capacity: 39,000	Capacity: 15,000

Squads

Further information: 19th Arabian Gulf Cup squads

Matches

^[3]

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Oman	3	2	1	0	6	0	+6	7
Kuwait	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Bahrain	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
Iraq	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

4 January 2009

Oman	0–0	Kuwait

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

4 January 2009

Bahrain	3–1	Iraq
Yaser 28' Adnan 69' (pen.) Al-Dakeel 90+2'		Mahmoud 81' (pen.)

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

---

7 January 2009

Iraq	0–4	Oman
		H. Rabia 23', 65', 79' Al-Hosni 50'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

7 January 2009

Bahrain	0–1	Kuwait
		Neda 28'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

---

10 January 2009

Oman	2–0	Bahrain
Al-Maimani 14' Bashir 71'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

10 January 2009

Iraq	1–1	Kuwait
Abdul-Zahra 66'		Khalaf 37'

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Saudi Arabia	3	2	1	0	9	0	+9	7
Qatar	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	3	4	−1	4
Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

5 January 2009

United Arab Emirates	3–1	Yemen
M. Omar 6' (pen.) Al-Hammadi 14' Al-Shehhi 67'		Al-Nono 90+1'

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

5 January 2009

Saudi Arabia	0–0	Qatar

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

---

8 January 2009

Qatar	0–0	United Arab Emirates

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

8 January 2009

Saudi Arabia	6–0	Yemen
Al-Qahtani 4' Mouath 11', 83' Shuhail 18' Otaif 19' Al-Mousa 36'

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

---

11 January 2009

Qatar	2–1	Yemen
Haroon 13' Siddiq 90+8'		Al-Nono 31'

Royal Oman Police Stadium, Muscat

11 January 2009

United Arab Emirates	0–3	Saudi Arabia
		Al-Qahtani 58' Al-Zori 70' Al-Fraidi 72'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

Semi finals

14 January 2009
18:00 UTC+4

Oman	1–0	Qatar
H. Rabia 18'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

14 January 2009
21:00 UTC+4

Kuwait	0–1	Saudi Arabia
		Al-Fraidi 63'

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

Final

17 January 2009
18:00 UTC+4

Oman	0–0 (a.e.t.)	Saudi Arabia
Penalties
Ayil Al-Ajmi Mudhafar Saleh Bashir M. Rabia	6–5	Al-Qahtani Khariri Tukar Otaif Hawsawi Al-Jassim

Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, Muscat

Winners

19th Arabian Gulf Cup winners
Oman First title

Goalscorers

4 goals Hassan Rabia 2 goals Malek Mouath Yasser Al-Qahtani Ahmed Al-Fraidi Ali Al Nono 1 goal Abdullah Al-Dakheel Abdullah Omar Sayed Mohamed Adnan Alaa Abdul-Zahra Younis Mahmoud Abdullah Al-Zori

1 goal (cont.) Abdullah Shuhail Ahmed Al-Mousa Ahmed Otaif Khaled Khalaf Musaed Neda Badar Al-Maimani Imad Al-Hosni Fawzi Bashir Majdi Siddiq Musa Haroon Mohammed Omar Ismail Al-Hammadi Mohamed Al-Shehhi

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Final phase
1	Oman	5	3	2	0	7	0	+7
2	Saudi Arabia	5	3	2	0	10	0	+10
3	Kuwait	4	1	2	1	2	2	0
	Qatar	4	1	2	1	2	2	0
Eliminated in the group stage
5	United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	3	4	–1
6	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	3	4	–1
7	Iraq	3	0	1	2	2	8	–6
8	Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	11	–9

Total goals by team

10 goals  Saudi Arabia 7 goals  Oman 3 goals  Bahrain  United Arab Emirates 2 goals  Iraq  Kuwait  Qatar  Yemen

Trivia

• FIFA president Sepp Blatter came to Oman for the second time, and attended the Oman/Qatar, and the Saudi Arabia/Kuwait games.
• UEFA president, and French football legend, Michel Platini attended the Oman/Kuwait, and the Bahrain/Iraq games, both in the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex.
• Singer Mohammed Abdo attended the final match between Oman and his native, Saudi Arabia.^[4]
• The Tournament took place during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, also known as the Gaza War, as a sign of solidarity toward the Palestinians, many fans waved pro-Palestinian banners and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans. Omani footballer Badr Al-Maimani also revealed a pro-Gaza undershirt after his free-kick goal against Bahrain.^[5] Also before the opening match played by Yemen, players wore shirts representing solidarity with Palestine.^[6] The Kuwaiti team also did the same in their opening match against Oman, but instead wore scarves.^[7]