25th Arabian Gulf Cup

The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, known as Khaleeji Zain 25 for sponsorship reasons,^[1] 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 for the first time since 1979, in the host city of Basra.

25th Arabian Gulf Cup

كأس الخليج العربي 25
Tournament details
Host country	Iraq
Dates	6–19 January 2023
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Iraq (4th title)
Runners-up	Oman
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	39 (2.6 per match)
Attendance	665,495 (44,366 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Aymen Hussein Ibrahim Bayesh (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Ibrahim Bayesh
Best goalkeeper	Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini
← 2019 2024–25 →

Hosts Iraq won their fourth title by beating Oman 3–2 after extra time in the final.^[2]

Teams

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Rankings
			October 2022
Qatar	25th	Winners (1992, 2004, 2014)	50
Saudi Arabia	24th	Winners (1994, 2002, 2003–04)	51
Iraq (hosts)	16th	Winners (1979, 1984, 1988)	68
United Arab Emirates	24th	Winners (2007, 2013)	70
Oman	23rd	Winners (2009, 2017–18)	75
Bahrain (holders)	25th	Winners (2019)	85
Kuwait	25th	Winners (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010)	149
Yemen	10th	Group stage (2003–04, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017–18, 2019)	155

Draw

The draw was held on 25 October 2022 at 11:00 UTC+3 at the Grand Millennium Al Seef in Basra.^[3][4] 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 of October 2022. Pot 1 contained the hosts Iraq and the holders Bahrain, who were assigned to A1 and A2 respectively.^[5]

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Iraq (68) (hosts)  Bahrain (85) (holders)	Qatar (50)  Saudi Arabia (51)	United Arab Emirates (70)  Oman (75)	Kuwait (149)  Yemen (155)

Squads

Main article: 25th Arabian Gulf Cup squads

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

Venues

240km
149miles

1

   

Location of areas hosting the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup

1

Basra

Basra
Basra International Stadium	Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium
Capacity: 65,227	Capacity: 30,000

Officials

Referees Ma Ning 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 Mohanad Qasim Jérémie Pignard Rédouane Jiyed Abdullah Al-Marri Abdullah Al-Shehri Ahmed Darwish

Group stage

Tiebreakers
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches: Win: 3 points; Draw: 1 point; Loss: 0 points; Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches.

Group A

Main article: 25th Arabian Gulf Cup Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Iraq (H)	3	2	1	0	7	0	+7	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Oman	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7
3	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
4	Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Source: AGCFF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

6 January 2023 (2023-01-06)

19:00 UTC+3

Iraq	0–0	Oman
	Report

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

6 January 2023 (2023-01-06)

21:45 UTC+3

Yemen	0–2	Saudi Arabia
	Report	Al-Nabit 18' Al-Juwayr 34' (pen.)

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: Salman Falahi (Qatar)

---

9 January 2023 (2023-01-09)

16:15 UTC+3

Oman	3–2	Yemen
Fadhl 2' (o.g.) A. Al-Alawi 37' Al-Sabhi 47'	Report	Al-Matari 12' (pen.) O. Al-Dahi 30'

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: Abdullah Jamali (Kuwait)

9 January 2023 (2023-01-09)

19:15 UTC+3

Saudi Arabia	0–2	Iraq
	Report	Bayesh 30' Rostam 86'

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)

---

12 January 2023 (2023-01-12)

18:00 UTC+3

Iraq	5–0	Yemen
Nadhim 40' Attwan 64' Hussein 74' (pen.), 75' Ali 88'	Report

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

12 January 2023 (2023-01-12)

18:00 UTC+3

Saudi Arabia	1–2	Oman
Al-Ammar 41'	Report	R. Al-Alawi 34' Al-Saadi 84'

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ma Ning (China)

Group B

Main article: 25th Arabian Gulf Cup Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Qatar	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
3	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
4	United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

Source: AGCFF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

7 January 2023 (2023-01-07)

16:15 UTC+3

Bahrain	2–1	United Arab Emirates
Al-Aswad 60' Al-Shaikh 77'	Report	Tagliabúe 90+2'

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ahmed Al-Kaf (Oman)

7 January 2023 (2023-01-07)

19:15 UTC+3

Kuwait	0–2	Qatar
	Report	Surag 21' Alaaeldin 37' (pen.)

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ma Ning (China)

---

10 January 2023 (2023-01-10)

16:15 UTC+3

United Arab Emirates	0–1	Kuwait
	Report	Al-Dhefiri 90+3'

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Shukri Al-Hanfoush (Saudi Arabia)

10 January 2023 (2023-01-10)

19:15 UTC+3

Qatar	1–2	Bahrain
Alaaeldin 34'	Report	Waad 72' (o.g.) Yusuf 89' (pen.)

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

---

13 January 2023 (2023-01-13)

18:00 UTC+3

Bahrain	1–1	Kuwait
Al-Humaidan 26'	Report	Al-Khaldi 45'

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

13 January 2023 (2023-01-13)

18:00 UTC+3

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Qatar
Lima 77'	Report	Al-Abdullah 88'

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ali Sabah (Iraq)

Knockout stage

Main article: 25th Arabian Gulf Cup knockout stage

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	16 January 2023 – Basra
	Iraq	2
					19 January 2023 – Basra
	Qatar	1
					Iraq (a.e.t.)	3
	16 January 2023 – Basra
					Oman	2
	Bahrain	0
	Oman	1

Semi-finals

16 January 2023 (2023-01-16)

16:15 UTC+3

Iraq	2–1	Qatar
Bayesh 19' Hussein 43'	Report	Surag 28'

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: Ma Ning (China)

---

16 January 2023 (2023-01-16)

20:15 UTC+3

Bahrain	0–1	Oman
	Report	Al-Yahmadi 83'

Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium, Basra

Referee: Adel Al-Naqbi (United Arab Emirates)

Final

19 January 2023 (2023-01-19)

19:00 UTC+3

Iraq	3–2 (a.e.t.)	Oman
Bayesh 24' Attwan 116' (pen.) Younis 120+2'	Report	Al-Yahyaei 90+10' (pen.) Al-Malki 119'

Basra International Stadium, Basra

Referee: István Kovács (Romania)

Winner

25th Arabian Gulf Cup Winner
Iraq Fourth title

Goalscorers

There were 39 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.6 goals per match.

3 goals

• Ibrahim Bayesh
• Aymen Hussein

2 goals

• Amjad Attwan
• Ahmed Alaaeldin
• Amro Surag

1 goal

• Mahdi Abdullatif
• Kamil Al-Aswad
• Jasim Al-Shaikh
• Abdulla Yusuf Helal
• Hussein Ali Al-Saedi
• Mustafa Nadhim
• Aso Rostam
• Manaf Younis
• Ahmed Al-Dhefiri
• Shabaib Al-Khaldi
• Arshad Al-Alawi
• Rabia Al-Alawi
• Omar Al-Maliki
• Harib Al-Saadi
• Issam Al-Sabhi
• Jameel Al-Yahmadi
• Salaah Al-Yahyaei
• Tameem Al-Abdullah
• Turki Al-Ammar
• Musab Al-Juwayr
• Sumayhan Al-Nabit
• Fábio Lima
• Sebastián Tagliabúe
• Omar Al-Dahi
• Abdulwasea Al-Matari

1 own goal

• Mohammed Waad (against Bahrain)
• Ali Fadhl (against Oman)

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Final phase
1	Iraq	5	4	1	0	12	3	+9	13
2	Oman	5	3	1	1	8	6	+2	10
3	Bahrain	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7
4	Qatar	4	1	1	2	5	5	0	4
Eliminated in the group stage
5	Kuwait	3	1	1	1	2	3	−1	4
6	Saudi Arabia	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	3
7	United Arab Emirates	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1
8	Yemen	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8	0

Prize money and awards

Prize money

Position[6]	Amount (USD)
Champions	1,000,000
Runner-up	750,000
Total	1,750,000

Player awards

The following awards were given:^[7]

Award	Player
Top Scorer	Aymen Hussein
Most Valuable Player	Ibrahim Bayesh
Best Goalkeeper	Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini

Broadcasters

Middle East

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
Bahrain	Bahrain Sport
Iraq	Al-Iraqiya Sports Alrabiaa Sports UTV Al-Sharqiya Al-Sumaria
Jordan	Jordan Sport
Kuwait	KTV Sports
Saudi Arabia	KSA Sport
Oman	Oman Sports
Qatar	Alkass
United Arab Emirates	AD Sports Dubai Sports Sharjah Sports

Rest of the world

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Slovenia	Sport Klub	[8]
Poland	Polsat Sport	[9]
Greece	Nova Sports

Controversies

Opening ceremony

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.^[10]

Crowd stampede

Further information: 2023 Basra International Stadium stampede

A stampede outside Basra International Stadium, ahead of the final, killed one person and injured up to 60 others, according to reports.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

See also

• 2023 WAFF Championship
• 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship
• 2023 SAFF Championship
• 2022 AFF Championship
• 2023 AFC Asian Cup