"Gulf 25" .. The fate of the championship will be decided next Monday

The General Assembly of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation will hold a meeting on Monday in the presence of the heads of the Gulf federations to decide the fate of the twenty-fifth edition scheduled to be held in the Iraqi city of Basra during the next December and January.

It is expected that a decision will be taken to postpone the tournament to another date in light of deficiencies in the file of the city of Basra's readiness to host the tournament, in addition to great pressure on the agenda of the Gulf federations locally, continentally and internationally.

A source in the Gulf Federation confirmed to AFP that the issue of postponing the tournament "will be discussed during the meeting." He added, "All things will become clear after the meeting of the General Friday during an extraordinary meeting. The final decision regarding the championship will be entrusted to the heads of the Gulf federations." The inspection committee formed by the Gulf Football Association made several field inspection visits to Basra's civil facilities, including stadiums and hotels, and submitted reports that were discussed by the Executive Office of the Federation during a meeting held on Wednesday.

Some Gulf federations are pressing towards postponing the “Gulf 25” until after the World Cup finals hosted by Qatar during November and December 2022.

The football calendar of the Gulf teams is witnessing great crowding in the coming months, as six of the eight teams participating in the Gulf Cup will participate in the Arab Cup finals, which It will be held in Qatar during the period between November 31 and December 18, which are Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and Oman.

The teams of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and the UAE will participate in the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup, while the Gulf clubs will know continental participations in the AFC Champions League and in the local press leagues. It is noteworthy that Iraq is still facing a ban on holding matches on its soil due to the security situation since 2019.

The new president of the federation, Adnan Darjal, said in a press conference yesterday that "after the International and Asian Federations approached more than 45 days ago by the temporary authority for the management of the Iraqi Federation regarding the demand to allow With the resumption of international matches in Iraqi stadiums, the two federations confirmed sending representatives at the end of this month to Iraq to ensure that the matches could return.

FIFA has imposed a ban on holding international matches on Iraqi stadiums, including the Basra International Stadium, which is scheduled to host the Iraqi team's matches in the Asian qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 World Cup, since the end of 2019 due to the security situation and the unprecedented demonstrations that the country witnessed.

The Gulf Cup is held every two years, and the first edition was held in Bahrain in 1970 and the last in Qatar in 2019. Kuwait holds the record for winning the Gulf championship with 10 titles, compared to 3 each for Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, 3 each for Oman and the UAE and a title for Bahrain. in 2019.

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