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]

Team	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA Rankings
			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

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)

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

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

Referees

Assistant referees

Fourth officials

Video Assistant officials

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).

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]
3	United Arab Emirates	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2[b]
4	Qatar	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2[b]

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bahrain	3	2	0	1	6	4	+2	6[a]	Knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	8	6	+2	6[a]
3	Iraq	3	1	0	2	2	5	−3	3[b]
4	Yemen	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3[b]

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In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

	Semi-finals				Final
	31 December 2024 – Sulaibikhat
	Oman	2
					4 January 2025 – Kuwait City
	Saudi Arabia	1
					Oman	1
	31 December 2024 – Kuwait City
					Bahrain	2
	Bahrain	1
	Kuwait	0

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Oman

Bahrain

GK 18 Faiz Al-Rushaidi  90+3'  90+9' CB 2 Mohammed Al-Musalami (c) CB 6 Ahmed Al-Khamisi  58' RB 13 Thani Al-Rushaidi LB 17 Ali Al-Busaidi CM 4 Arshad Al-Alawi  46' CF 12 Abdullah Fawaz  86' CM 23 Harib Al-Saadi CF 7 Issam Al-Sabhi  90+10' RM 10 Jameel Al-Yahmadi LM 21 Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri Substitutions: GK 1 Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini GK 22 Ibrahim Al-Rajhi  90+9' DF 3 Mulham Al-Sinaidi  58' 90+8' DF 5 Ghanim Al-Habashi DF 14 Ahmed Al-Kaabi DF 16 Khalid Al-Braiki MF 8 Zahir Al-Aghbari  86' MF 9 Ahed Al-Mashaiki MF 19 Mataz Saleh MF 24 Hussein Al-Shahri FW 25 Faraj Al-Kiyumi FW 26 Abdulsalam Al-Shukaili  90+8' Manager: Rashid Jaber

GK 22 Ebrahim Lutfalla CB 2 Amine Benaddi  43' CB 3 Waleed Al Hayam DM 4 Sayed Dhiya Saeed (c) RB 5 Hamad Al-Shamsan LB 23 Abdulla Al-Khalasi RW 7 Ali Madan AM 8 Mohamed Marhoon DM 19 Kamil Al-Aswad CF 13 Mohamed Al-Romaihi  56'  90+14' LW 20 Mahdi Al-Humaidan  83' Substitutions: GK 1 Ammar Mohamed GK 21 Sayed Mohammed Jaffer DF 16 Sayed Baqer DF 18 Mohamed Adel DF 24 Vincent Emmanuel MF 10 Abdulwahab Al-Malood MF 15 Jasim Al-Shaikh MF 17 Hazza Ali MF 25 Sayed Ahmed Al-Wadaei FW 9 Ebrahim Al-Khattal FW 11 Ismail Abdullatif  90+14' FW 26 Husain Abdulkarim Manager: Dragan Talajić

Assistant referees: Taleb Al-Marri (Qatar) Saoud Al-Maqaleh (Qatar) Fourth official: Mohanad Qasim Sarray (Iraq) Reserve assistant referee: Ahmed Al-Baghdadi (Iraq) Video assistant referee: Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar) Assistant video assistant referees: Fu Ming (China) Ahmed Gatea (Iraq)

Match rules 90 minutes 30 minutes of extra time if necessary Penalty shoot-out if scores still level Maximum of twelve named substitutes Maximum of five substitutions, with a sixth allowed in extra time Maximum of three substitution opportunities, with a fourth allowed in extra time

26th Arabian Gulf Cup Winner
Bahrain Second title

There were 41 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.73 goals per match.

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Position[5]	Amount (USD)
Champions	1,000,000
Runner-up	750,000
Total	1,750,000

The following awards were given:^[6]

Award	Player
Top Scorer	Mohamed Marhoon
Most Valuable Player	Mohamed Marhoon
Best Goalkeeper	Ebrahim Lutfalla

Middle East

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
Bahrain	Bahrain Sport	[7]
Iraq	Al-Iraqiya Sports Alrabiaa Sports	[7]
Kuwait	KTV Sports	[7]
Oman	Oman Sports	[7]
Qatar	Alkass	[7]
Saudi Arabia	SSC KSA Sport
United Arab Emirates	AD Sports Dubai Sports	[8]
Yemen	SSC Alkass (via free YouTube streaming)

Others

Territory	Broadcaster	Ref.
United States of America	ESPN+
Netherlands	ESPN
Portugal	Sport TV