4th Arabian Gulf Cup

The 4th Arabian Gulf Cup (Arabic: دورة كأس الخليج العربي الرابعة) was the fourth edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup. The tournament was held in Doha, Qatar and was won by the three-time defending champions Kuwait. The tournament took place between 26 March and 15 April 1976.^[1] All matches were played at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium.

1976 Arabian Gulf Cup

دورة كأس الخليج العربي الرابعة (in Arabic)
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	26 March – 15 April
Teams	7
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Kuwait (4th title)
Runners-up	Iraq
Third place	Qatar
Fourth place	Bahrain
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	84 (3.82 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jasem Yaqoub (9 goals)
Best player(s)	Ali Kadhim
Best goalkeeper	Hamood Sultan
← 1974 1979 →

Iraq took part in the competition for the first time. Both Iraq and Kuwait finished level on points and goal difference in the round-robin group stage; thus, a play-off final was held to determine the champion. Kuwait defeated Iraq 4–2 in the final to win their fourth title in a row.^[2]

The number of teams was increased from six to seven and the format of the competition was changed back to the original format used in 1970 and 1972.

Teams

Team	Previous appearances in tournament[A]
Bahrain	3 (1970, 1972, 1974)
Iraq	0 (debut)
Kuwait	3 (1970, 1972, 1974)
Oman	1 (1974)
Qatar (host)	3 (1970, 1972, 1974)
Saudi Arabia	3 (1970, 1972, 1974)
United Arab Emirates	2 (1972, 1974)

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

Venues

Doha	Doha
	Khalifa Sports City Stadium
	Capacity: 20,000

Match officials

Country	Referee
Algeria	Abdelkader Oweis
Bahrain	Abdulghaffar Al-Alwi
Iraq	Sobhi Adeeb
Kuwait	Abdulrahman Al-Bakr
Qatar	Taleb Ballan
	Mubarak Waleed
Saudi Arabia	Abdulrahman Al-Daham
Tunisia	Hédi Saoudi
Turkey	Sabahattin Ladikli
United Arab Emirates	Abbas Hassan

Tournament

The seven teams in the tournament played a single round-robin style competition. The team achieving first place in the overall standings was the tournament winner.

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

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Kuwait	6	4	2	0	22	5	+17	10
Iraq	6	4	2	0	21	4	+17	10
Qatar	6	4	1	1	11	6	+5	9
Bahrain	6	3	0	3	9	15	−6	6
Saudi Arabia	6	2	0	4	8	14	−6	4
United Arab Emirates	6	0	2	4	4	13	−9	2
Oman	6	0	1	5	3	21	−18	1

Matches

26 March 1976

15:25

Qatar	1–0	Saudi Arabia
Almas 20'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sobhi Adeeb (Iraq)

27 March 1976

15:25

Iraq	4–0	Oman
Hassan 33' Kadhim 68', 80' Nasser 69' (o.g.)	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Daham (Saudi Arabia)

27 March 1976

17:30

Bahrain	3–2	United Arab Emirates
Buhram 49', 64' Al-Dawoodi 80'	Report	Abdullah 73' Boshanain 88'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Bakr (Kuwait)

---

28 March 1976

15:25

Kuwait	4–0	Qatar
Yaqoub 25' Al-Dakhil 37', 74' Al-Anberi 46'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sobhi Adeeb (Iraq)

29 March 1976

15:25

Saudi Arabia	2–0	United Arab Emirates
Sobhi 22' (pen.) Al-Mughnem 55'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdulghaffar Al-Alwi (Bahrain)

29 March 1976

17:30

Iraq	4–1	Bahrain
Waal 11' Hassan 23' Abdul-Jalil 50' Kadhim 65'	Report	Zowayed 39' (pen.)

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Bakr (Kuwait)

---

31 March 1976

15:25

Kuwait	8–0	Oman
Al-Dakhil 16', 74' Mohammed 17' Yaqoub 22' (pen.), 33', 49', 59' Ibrahim 87'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Taleb Ballan (Qatar)

1 April 1976

15:25

Iraq	7–1	Saudi Arabia
Waal 3' Abdul-Jalil 6' Hassan 25' Kadhim 45', 60', 68' Subhi 89'	Report	Suroor 82'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Hédi Saoudi (Tunisia)

1 April 1976

17:30

Qatar	3–1	United Arab Emirates
Muftah 1' Al-Hajri 2' Almas 29'	Report	Abdulrahman 59'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdulrahman Al-Bakr (Kuwait)

---

2 April 1976

15:25

Bahrain	1–0	Oman
Buhram 60'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sobhi Adeeb (Iraq)

3 April 1976

15:25

Qatar	0–0	Iraq
	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Hédi Saoudi (Tunisia)

3 April 1976

17:30

Kuwait	0–0	United Arab Emirates
	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Mubarak Waleed (Qatar)

---

4 April 1976

15:25

Saudi Arabia	3–1	Oman
Al-Mughnem 3' Suroor 19' Khalifa 82'	Report	Al-Alawi 5'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abbas Hassan (United Arab Emirates)

6 April 1976

15:25

Kuwait	5–2	Bahrain
Yaqoub 5' (pen.) Al-Anberi 15', 43' Bohamoud 68' Al-Dakhil 90'	Report	Almas 40' Shuwaier 42'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Hédi Saoudi (Tunisia)

6 April 1976

17:30

Iraq	4–0	United Arab Emirates
Hussein 11' Kadhim 34' (pen.) Abdul-Jalil 43' Fartous 44'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdelkader Oweis (Algeria)

---

7 April 1976

15:25

Qatar	4–1	Oman
Muftah 1', 2' Almas 3' Omar 49'	Report	Harib 43'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sobhi Adeeb (Iraq)

8 April 1976

17:30

Kuwait	2–2	Iraq
Yaqoub 55' Al-Dakhil 56'	Report	Abdul-Jalil 46' Kadhim 49'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdelkader Oweis (Algeria)

8 April 1976

20:00

Bahrain	2–1	Saudi Arabia
Bashir 51' Buhram 80'	Report	Naseeb 11'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sabahattin Ladikli (Turkey)

---

10 April 1976

17:30

Qatar	3–0	Bahrain
Muftah 56', 57' Omar 90'	Report

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Sobhi Adeeb (Iraq)

10 April 1976

20:00

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Oman
Mubarak 6'	Report	Al-Alawi 23' (pen.)

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Mubarak Waleed (Qatar)

11 April 1976

20:00

Kuwait	3–1	Saudi Arabia
Al-Dakhil 10', 27' Yaqoub 63'	Report	Suroor 46'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Abdelkader Oweis (Algeria)

Championship play-off

Since both Kuwait and Iraq finished level on points and goal difference, a play-off final was held between the two sides to determine the champion.^[3]

15 April 1976

15:25

Kuwait	4–2	Iraq
Al-Anberi 8', 25', 85' Yaqoub 32'	Report	Subhi 9', 50'

Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Doha

Referee: Hédi Saoudi (Tunisia)

Winners

4th Arabian Gulf Cup winners
Kuwait Fourth title

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 84 goals scored in 22 matches, for an average of 3.82 goals per match.

9 goals

• Jasem Yaqoub

8 goals

• Ali Kadhim
• Faisal Al-Dakhil

6 goals

• Abdulaziz Al-Anberi

5 goals

• Mansour Muftah

4 goals

• Sabah Abdul-Jalil
• Mohammed Buhram

3 goals

• Falah Hassan
• Ahmed Subhi
• Sulaiman Almas
• Khaled Suroor

2 goals

• Kadhim Waal
• Ahmed Omar
• Mohammed Al-Mughnem

1 goal

• Jassem Al-Dawoodi
• Jawhar Almas
• Sultan Bashir
• Khalil Shuwaier
• Ibrahim Zowayed
• Ali Hussein Mahmoud
• Mejbel Fartous
• Saud Bohamoud
• Farouq Ibrahim
• Hussain Mohammed
• Mubarak Al-Alawi
• Muslem Al-Alawi
• Hamad Harib
• Saif Al-Hajri
• Eissa Khalifa
• Sultan bin Naseeb
• Hamed Sobhi
• Jassem Abdullah
• Rajab Abdulrahman
• Salem Boshanain
• Awadh Mubarak

1 own goal

• Ali Nasser (against Iraq)

Awards

Player of the Tournament^[4]

• Ali Kadhim

Top Scorer^[4]

• Jasem Yaqoub (9 goals)

Goalkeeper of the Tournament^[4]

• Hamood Sultan