Qatari and Singaporean players in action during their friendly match played at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.
For the GCC countries, winning the Gulf Cup is a matter of pride, and it is that competition, which brings the best out of the players, resulting in fiercely contested matches.
The tournament – which started 51 years ago – has a long history of producing exciting battles among the regional sides, so what’s new in the 2019 edition?
According to Jassim Al Rumaihi, Secretary-General of the Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF), this year’s edition – which will be played from November 26 to December 8 – will see players better prepared than ever due to busy international season.
“All the teams will come well prepared as all of them are competing in qualification for 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup,” Al Rumaihi said yesterday, on the sidelines of draw ceremony for the regional tournament.
“Eight teams from different nationalities will show more performance. I hope this will be the best Gulf Cup tournament in terms of level of performance,” he added.
The draw, which initially was held on October 23, was conducted again yesterday after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain agreed late to play in the tournament following their refusal to take part in the event earlier on.
“All the teams competing is much better than the five teams, everybody is saying that. Eight teams from different nationalities will show more performance,” said Al Rumaihi.
Yesterday’s draw saw hosts Qatar were drawn with rivals UAE, Yemen and Iraq, with Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain forming the Group B.
“It is a fair draw. I hope we will reach the high level of standard of football in this tournament,” said Al Rumaihi.
The top AGCFF official also expected huge crowd turnout during all matches of the tournament.
“There will be huge crowd turnout. Not just for Qatar, this tournament means a lot to all GCC countries. It’s been here for 50 years. Everybody is happy that all the teams are participating, and as I said we will see huge number of spectators and high level of competition,” he said.
Al Rumaihi, a Qatari national, also backed the hosts to win the tournament for fourth time.
“As a Qatari, (I would say) we have a very good team, we are number one in Asia at the moment. We have very talented players, hopefully they will show good performance. Qatar is hosting the tournament, usually when Qatar host the tournament they win. We are hoping that they are going win the title,” said Al Rumaihi.
Before confirmation from the blockading countries, the Khalifa International Stadium was the only venue to host all the matches, and Al Rumaihi said probably one more ground will be added.
“The new venue will be decided by next week. Khalifa Stadium is the main, where the opening ceremony will be held. We will see what the LOC will decide,” he said.
