3rd Arabian Gulf Cup

The 3rd Arabian Gulf Cup (Arabic: دورة كأس الخليج العربي الثالثة) was the third edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup. The tournament was held in Kuwait City, Kuwait, and was won by two-time defending champions and hosts Kuwait. The tournament took place between 15 and 29 March 1974.^[1] All matches were played at the Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium.

1974 Arabian Gulf Cup

دورة كأس الخليج العربي الثالثة (in Arabic)
Tournament details
Host country	Kuwait
Dates	15–29 March
Teams	6
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Kuwait (3rd title)
Runners-up	Saudi Arabia
Third place	Qatar
Fourth place	United Arab Emirates
Tournament statistics
Matches played	13
Goals scored	45 (3.46 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jasem Yaqoub (6 goals)
Best player(s)	Mohammed Ghanim
Best goalkeeper	Ahmed Al-Tarabulsi
← 1972 1976 →

Oman took part in the competition for the first time. Kuwait defeated Saudi Arabia 4–0 in the final to win their third title in a row. The victory meant that Kuwait had earned the privilege of keeping the trophy permanently.

The number of teams in this edition increased from five to six and the format of the competition changed. Instead of one round-robin group, the six nations were split into two groups of three. The top two from each group qualified for the semi-finals with each group winner facing the other group's runner-up. The winners of the semi-finals faced each other in the final while the defeated semi-finalists played the third-place play-off.

Teams

Team	Previous appearances in tournament[A]
Bahrain	2 (1970, 1972)
Kuwait (host)	2 (1970, 1972)
Oman	0 (debut)
Qatar	2 (1970, 1972)
Saudi Arabia	2 (1970, 1972)
United Arab Emirates	1 (1972)

1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Venues

Kuwait City	Kuwait City
	Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium
	Capacity: 15,000

Match officials

Country	Referee
Bahrain	Ali Kamenjah
England	Matthews
Iraq	Sami Naji
Italy	Riccardo Lattanzi
Kuwait	Abdulrahman Al-Bakr
	Jaber Al-Jalahemah
	Abdulsalam Al-Yaqout
Saudi Arabia	Ghazi Kayal

Preliminary round

15 March 1974

20:00

Kuwait	2–0	United Arab Emirates
Yaqoub 15' Al-Mula 57'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Riccardo Lattanzi (Italy)

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16 March 1974

16:00

Bahrain	4–0	Oman
Bushaqer 1', 35', 89' Zulaikh 83'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Ghazi Kayal (Saudi Arabia)

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16 March 1974

20:00

Saudi Arabia	2–0	Qatar
Al-Mughnem 30' Bakhit 57'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Jaber Al-Jalahemah (Kuwait)

First round

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kuwait (H)	2	2	0	0	6	0	+6	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	Qatar	2	1	0	1	4	1	+3	2
3	Oman	2	0	0	2	0	9	−9	0

Source: GulfCup.com
(H) Hosts

19 March 1974

20:00

Kuwait	5–0	Oman
Yaqoub 8' (pen.) Al-Mula 50', 60', 67' Kameel 85'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Ali Kamenjah (Bahrain)

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22 March 1974

20:00

Qatar	4–0	Oman
Saad 7' Daf'allah 20' Bashir 55' (pen.) Zain 72'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Riccardo Lattanzi (Italy)

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24 March 1974

16:00

Kuwait	1–0	Qatar
Yaqoub 13'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Ghazi Kayal (Saudi Arabia)

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Saudi Arabia	2	2	0	0	6	1	+5	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2	2
3	Bahrain	2	0	0	2	1	8	−7	0

Source: GulfCup.com

18 March 1974

20:00

United Arab Emirates	4–0	Bahrain
Salem 41' Sultan 57', 90' Rabee 78'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Abdulsalam Al-Yaqout (Kuwait)

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21 March 1974

20:00

Saudi Arabia	4–1	Bahrain
Ghorab 2' Asiri 46' Al-Turki 47' Al-Mughnem 81'	Report	Ali 33'

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Matthews (England)

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23 March 1974

16:00

Saudi Arabia	2–0	United Arab Emirates
Ghorab 15' Al-Mughnem 30'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Bakr (Kuwait)

Knockout stage

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).

	Semi-finals				Final
	26 March – Kuwait City
	Kuwait	6
					29 March – Kuwait City
	United Arab Emirates	0
					Kuwait	4
	27 March – Kuwait City
					Saudi Arabia	0
	Saudi Arabia	3
	Qatar	1
					Third place
					29 March – Kuwait City
					Qatar (pen.)	1 (3)
					United Arab Emirates	1 (0)

Semi-finals

26 March 1974

20:00

Kuwait	6–0	United Arab Emirates
Yaqoub 10', 30', 47' Shoaib 12' Mohammed 46' Kameel 67'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Matthews (England)

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27 March 1974

16:00

Saudi Arabia	3–1	Qatar
Abdulmatloub 4' Ghurab 32' Al-Mughnem 60'	Report	Ghanim 51'

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Sami Naji (Iraq)

Third place play-off

29 March 1974

16:00

Qatar	1–1 (a.e.t.)	United Arab Emirates
Ali 64'	Report	Boshanain 24'
Penalties
	3–0

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Jaber Al-Jalahemah (Kuwait)

Final

30 March 1974

20:00

Kuwait	4–0	Saudi Arabia
Kameel 1', 55' Bouhamad 9', 16'	Report

Al Kuwait Sports Club Stadium, Kuwait City

Referee: Sami Naji (Iraq)

Winners

3rd Arabian Gulf Cup winners
Kuwait Third title

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 45 goals scored in 13 matches, for an average of 3.46 goals per match.

6 goals

• Jasem Yaqoub

4 goals

• Ali Al-Mula
• Fathi Kameel
• Mohammed Al-Mughnem

3 goals

• Fuad Bushaqer
• Saeed Ghurab

2 goals

• Hamad Bouhamad
• Salem Sultan

1 goal

• Hassan Ali
• Hassan Zulaikh
• Hussain Mohammed
• Mohammed Shoaib
• Saif Ali
• Anbar Bashir
• Salah Daf'allah
• Mohammed Ghanim
• Abdulkhaliq Saad
• Abdulamir Zain
• Naji Abdulmatloub
• Khaled Al-Turki
• Ali Asiri
• Mohsen Bakhit
• Salem Boshanain
• Zaid Rabee
• Suhail Salem

Awards

Player of the Tournament^[2]

• Mohammed Ghanim

Top Scorer^[2]

• Jasem Yaqoub (6 goals)

Goalkeeper of the Tournament^[2]

• Ahmed Al-Tarabulsi