25/01/2023
24 January, 2023
The Gulf Cup, dramatic victory for Iraq
The prestigious competition “The 25th Arab Gulf Cup” was held in Basra, Iraq from January 6 to 19 this year. As you know, Iraq was banned from hosting international competitions in its own country from 1991 until this year due to UN sanctions, so this event was special for Iraqis. Not only did Iraq host the renowned international competition for the first time in 32 years, they also became the champion.
The Arab Gulf Cup is an international football competition for the national teams of the Arab Gulf countries (including Yemen), organized by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF). The eight regular participating countries are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. The tournament has been held once every two years since 1970, and is considered an important factor in predicting the Asian Cup and FIFA World Cup Asian qualifies.
The streets of Basra during the weeks of the tournament were filled with jubilant people, some with tears of joy. It is no exaggeration to say that the Gulf Cup was a meaningful match not only for the Iraqis, but also for the Arab countries, as the TV reporters from the participating countries couldn’t contain their excitement as they see and feel the kindness and the unique generosity of Basra people everywhere during the championship. The hosting of the games in Iraq added a new page of brotherly relationship between Iraq and Arab Gulf countries, in which people to people communications became deeper and broader. Iraq’s victory of the Arab Gulf 25th Competition has proved that the power of sports can deepen the relations between nations, and heal the wounds and clear the misconceptions caused by bad politics.
The event was successfully held in Iraq, and the result of Iraq’s victory is enormous. This dramatic victory will undoubtedly have a great impact not only on the Arab Gulf countries, but also on the future of Iraqi football team in the coming regional and International championships countries and people who had a negative image of Iraq.
During 14 days of the 25th Gulf Championship and despite huge number of football fans, from all Iraqi governorates and from Gulf countries alongside with the masses of Basra inhabitants, who filled the whole city, there was no one incident has happened that could be considered as a security issue.
It was two weeks of joyful, peaceful feast for hundreds of thousands of people.
