en 26th Arabian Gulf Cup

26th Arabian Gulf Cup
كأس الخليج العربي 26
Tournament details
Host country	Kuwait
Dates	21 December 2024 – 4 January 2025
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	2 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Bahrain (2nd title)
Runners-up	Oman
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	41 (2.73 per match)
Attendance	390,990 (26,066 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mohamed Marhoon; Issam Al-Sabhi; Abdullah Al-Hamdan; (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Mohamed Marhoon
Best goalkeeper	Ebrahim Lutfalla
	← 2023 2026 →

The 26th Arabian Gulf Cup, known as Khaleeji Zain 26 for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation. The tournament was held in Kuwait from 21 December 2024 to 4 January 2025.^[1]^[2]

Bahrain won the competition for the second time, beating Oman 2–1 in the final.^[3]

Teams

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Rankings
Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	November 2024
Qatar	26th	Winners (1992, 2004, 2014)	48
Iraq (holders)	17th	Winners (1979, 1984, 1988, 2023)	56
Saudi Arabia	25th	Winners (1994, 2002, 2003–04)	59
United Arab Emirates	25th	Winners (2007, 2013)	63
Bahrain	26th	Winners (2019)	81
Oman	24th	Winners (2009, 2017–18)	80
Kuwait (hosts)	26th	Winners (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010)	134
Yemen	11th	Group stage (2003–04, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017–18, 2019, 2023)	157

Draw

The draw was held on 9 November 2024 at 19:00 UTC+3 in Kuwait City .The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots. Their positions were based on the FIFA ranking updated on 24 October.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Kuwait (hosts) Iraq (title holders)	Qatar (46) Saudi Arabia (59)	United Arab Emirates (68) Bahrain (76)	Oman (80) Yemen (154)

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 26 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Venues

75km
50miles

2

1

Location of areas hosting the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup

1

Ardhiya

2

Sulaibikhat

Kuwait City
Ardhiya	Sulaibikhat
Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium	Sulaibikhat Stadium
Capacity: 60,000	Capacity: 15,000 (new)

Officials

Referees

Assistant referees

Abdulla Al-Rowaimi
Mohamed Salman
Watheq Al-Swaiedi
Ahmad Abbas
Abdulhadi Al-Anezi
Saoud Al-Maqaleh
Taleb Al-Marri
Mohammed Al-Abakry
Abdelraheem Al-Shammari
Jasem Al-Ali
Mohamed Al-Hammadi

Fourth officials

Mokrane Gourari
Abbès Zerhouni
Brahim Hmade
Youssouf Yahia
Nasser Al-Busaidi
Hamed Al-Ghafer
Mircea Grigoriu
Ferencz Tunyogi
Kerem Ersoy
İbrahim Çağlar Uyarcan

Video Assistant officials

Fu Ming
Mahmoud Ashour
Ahmed Rsetam
Jumpei Iida
Abdullah Jamali
Khamis Al-Marri
Abdullah Al-Shehri
Haythem Guirat
Mohamed Khadim

Group stage

Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings: Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points); Drawing of lots.

All times are local (UTC+03:00).

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5^[a]	Knockout stage
2	Kuwait (H)	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5^[a]	Knockout stage
3	United Arab Emirates	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2^[b]
4	Qatar	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2^[b]

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

^ ^a ^b Disciplinary points: Oman –7, Kuwait –9
^ ^a ^b Disciplinary points: United Arab Emirates –6, Qatar –11

21 December 2024

20:00

Kuwait	1–1	Oman
Nasser 34'	Report	Al-Sabhi 42'

Jaber International Stadium, Kuwait City

Attendance: 42,445

Referee: Khalid Al-Turais (Saudi Arabia)

21 December 2024