Over the course of nearly five and a half decades, the Arabian Gulf Football Cup has had profound positive impacts on sports in the countries of the Gulf region, whether at the level of infrastructure or the technical level of the teams.
The Gulf event, which was launched for the first time in 1970, was not only an opportunity for competition between countries, but it was an incentive for countries in the region to improve their facilities and sports facilities, enhance regional cooperation, and develop local talent.
The many experiences and various successes achieved in the tournament during its past 25 editions helped the Gulf teams advance on the continental and international scene, reaching the qualification for the World Cup finals and achieving remarkable achievements at the level of continental tournaments.
The Arabian Gulf Cup Football Championship, known as “Khaleeji”, is one of the most prominent regional tournaments in the Arabian Gulf region. It was launched for the first time in 1970 in Bahrain. It is held every two years with the participation of the teams of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, in addition to Yemen and Iraq in some versions.
Since the start of the tournament, the Gulf countries have witnessed major transformations in the level of infrastructure and sports facilities in order to host the tournament, as many Gulf countries have built modern sports stadiums, advanced training facilities, and developed the sports events management system.
Hosting the Arabian Gulf Cup was an impetus for many Gulf countries to create new stadiums with international standards, as happened in Kuwait, the Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, which created huge stadiums to host the tournament matches, but these stadiums were not only designated for hosting the matches, but rather became part of the infrastructure. Permanent sports infrastructure that also hosts international matches and other continental and global events and championships.
Among the most prominent stadiums that have been historically associated with the Gulf Championship since its founding are Khalifa International Stadium in Doha (in 1976), King Fahd International Stadium (in 1982), Bahrain National Stadium (1982), Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex (1985), and most recently Mina International Stadium (1982). 2012), the International Trunk of the Palm (2013) in Iraq, the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium (2015), and Jaber Al-Mubarak. (2024) in Kuwait.
In addition to stadiums, the Gulf countries have witnessed a remarkable boom in training facilities and sports centers, which benefit national teams and local clubs, and help prepare new generations of talented players, which enhances the development of football at the national level.
With the passage of time and development, hosting the Gulf Cup also required the development of tourism infrastructure, hotels and service facilities, as the tournament in recent years began to attract large numbers of fans from various countries, which also served to host other sporting events and contributed to strengthening the position of the Gulf countries. As international sports and tourism centers.
The Arabian Gulf Cup was not just a regional tournament, but rather served as a competitive stage for developing the level of Gulf teams. The organization of this tournament coincided with the flourishing of the sports movement in the region, and contributed to raising the technical level of players and teams.
Holding a Gulf tournament on a regular basis gave the Gulf teams the opportunity to constantly interact and compete with geographically close teams, which allowed for the exchange of experiences between players and coaches, as the tournament was an urgent necessity to develop levels and increase self-confidence among players, which was later reflected in continental and international participations. .
The Arabian Gulf Cup gave young players the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and develop in a competitive environment, as the tournament witnessed the emergence of many players who later became stars of their country’s national teams, leading them to win and achieve continental titles or to be present in the World Cup finals.
Throughout the history of the Gulf Championships, the star of many distinguished players has shone, most notably the Kuwaiti Jassim Yaqoub, the Iraqi Hussein Saeed, the Saudi Majid Abdullah, the Emirati Adnan Al-Taliani, and the Qatari Akram Afif, who led their countries to achieve continental and global achievements, along with a group of distinguished players in their countries’ national teams. .
Thanks to benefiting from Khaleeji’s experiences, some Gulf teams were able to achieve great achievements at the continental and global levels. Kuwait, which won the Gulf title on ten occasions, was the first to win the Asian title in 1980, and the first Arab Asian team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals in 1980. 1982.
Iraq, which won four Gulf titles and an Asian title in 2007, succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup in 1986, after which the UAE, which won the Gulf title on two occasions, was able to participate in the 1990 World Cup.
As for Saudi Arabia, which won the Gulf title three times, it achieved distinguished success on the Asian level by winning the title three times in 1984, 1988, and 1996, and then it launched into the world by qualifying for the first time to the 1994 World Cup, and then participating in six of the last eight World Cup editions, while Qatar, which won the Gulf title on three occasions, was able to develop its national team and reach the best positions in recent years, which enabled it to control the ball. The Asian team won the title of the last two editions in 2019 and 2023, in addition to its appearance in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 finals.
The Gulf Cup was not just a sports tournament, but it was also a platform to enhance cooperation and communication between the Gulf countries, as the tournament helped build strong ties between football federations in the region, which contributed to the exchange of experiences and the development of the technical and administrative infrastructure for the sport, as well as the presence of fans. Gulf countries from various countries participated in a joint tournament that contributed to strengthening cultural and social ties between the peoples of the region.
The football federations in the Gulf countries took advantage of the tournament in a distinctive way to enhance technical and administrative cooperation, which allowed for the transfer of knowledge and the development of training methods. In addition, the tournament became a platform for testing new coaches and young players, which helped expand the talent base in the region.
Thanks to the cooperation between the Gulf countries, their teams benefited from technical and tactical development, especially after bringing in international coaches with experience in the Gulf Cup, who helped develop playing strategies and improve the teams’ individual and collective performance.
Thanks to the legacy of the Gulf Championships over the years, the Gulf countries have become able to host larger tournaments at the continental and international levels, such as the Asian Cup and the Club World Cup, in addition to international tournaments such as the World Youth Cup.
The Gulf Cup contributed to building the international reputation of the Gulf countries as a destination capable of hosting huge sporting events, just as the UAE and Qatar hosted the Asian Championships in 2019 and 2023, respectively, and Saudi Arabia won the right to host the next edition in 2027.
The State of Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 represented the greatest achievement that reflected the ability of the Gulf countries to organize global tournaments, thanks to the sports infrastructure that was gradually developed over the years thanks to tournaments such as the Gulf Cup.
For more than five decades, the Gulf Championships have served as a gateway to the development of Gulf football, in terms of infrastructure and tactical skills, and a platform that paved the way for the Gulf teams to take off continentally and globally, achieving impressive international achievements such as qualifying for the World Cup and winning the Asian Cup.