# 25th Arabian Gulf Cup

The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, known as Khaleeji Zain 25 for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation. The tournament was hosted in Iraq for the first time since 1979, in the host city of Basra.
Hosts Iraq won their fourth title by beating Oman 3–2 after extra time in the final.

## Teams

| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA Rankings |
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance | October 2022 |
| Qatar | 25th | Winners (1992, 2004, 2014) | 50 |
| Saudi Arabia | 24th | Winners (1994, 2002, 2003–04) | 51 |
| Iraq (hosts) | 16th | Winners (1979, 1984, 1988) | 68 |
| United Arab Emirates | 24th | Winners (2007, 2013) | 70 |
| Oman | 23rd | Winners (2009, 2017–18) | 75 |
| Bahrain (holders) | 25th | Winners (2019) | 85 |
| Kuwait | 25th | Winners (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010) | 149 |
| Yemen | 10th | Group stage (2003–04, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017–18, 2019) | 155 |

### Draw

The draw was held on 25 October 2022 at 11:00 UTC+3 at the Grand Millennium Al Seef in Basra. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots. For the draw, the teams were allocated to four pots based on the FIFA World Rankings of October 2022. Pot 1 contained the hosts Iraq and the holders Bahrain, who were assigned to A1 and A2 respectively.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Iraq (68) (hosts) Bahrain (85) (holders) | Qatar (50) Saudi Arabia (51) | United Arab Emirates (70) Oman (75) | Kuwait (149) Yemen (155) |

### Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers.

## Venues

Basra :
| Basra International Stadium | Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium |
| Capacity: 65,227 | Capacity: 30,000 |

## Group stage

* Tiebreakers
* The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:
* Points obtained in all group matches: Win: 3 points;Draw: 1 point;Loss: 0 points;
* Goal difference in all group matches;
* Number of goals scored in all group matches.

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Iraq (H) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | +7 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Oman | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Bahrain | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Qatar | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 4 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Kuwait | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 | |
| 4 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 | |

## Knockout stage
### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 16 January 2023 – Basra | 16 January 2023 – Basra |
| Iraq | 2 |
| Iraq | 2 | 19 January 2023 – Basra | 19 January 2023 – Basra |
| Qatar | 1 | 19 January 2023 – Basra | 19 January 2023 – Basra |
| Qatar | 1 | Iraq (a.e.t.) | 3 |
| 16 January 2023 – Basra | 16 January 2023 – Basra | | Iraq (a.e.t.) | 3 |
| 16 January 2023 – Basra | 16 January 2023 – Basra | Oman | 2 |
| Bahrain | 0 | Oman | 2 |
| Oman | 1 | | |

### Final
## Winner

* 25th Arabian Gulf Cup Winner
* Iraq Fourth title

## Goalscorers

There were 39 goals scored in 15 matches, for an average of 2.6 goals per match.
3 goals
* Ibrahim Bayesh
* Aymen Hussein
2 goals
* Amjad Attwan
* Ahmed Alaaeldin
* Amro Surag
1 goal
* Mahdi Abdullatif
* Kamil Al-Aswad
* Jasim Al-Shaikh
* Abdulla Yusuf Helal
* Hussein Ali Al-Saedi
* Mustafa Nadhim
* Aso Rostam
* Manaf Younis
* Ahmed Al-Dhefiri
* Shabaib Al-Khaldi
* Arshad Al-Alawi
* Rabia Al-Alawi
* Omar Al-Maliki
* Harib Al-Saadi
* Issam Al-Sabhi
* Jameel Al-Yahmadi
* Salaah Al-Yahyaei
* Tameem Al-Abdullah
* Turki Al-Ammar
* Musab Al-Juwayr
* Sumayhan Al-Nabit
* Fábio Lima
* Sebastián Tagliabúe
* Omar Al-Dahi
* Abdulwasea Al-Matari
1 own goal
* Mohammed Waad (against Bahrain)
* Ali Fadhl (against Oman)

## Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| Final phase ||||||||||
| 1 | Iraq | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 13 |
| 2 | Oman | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 10 |
| 3 | Bahrain | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 7 |
| 4 | Qatar | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Eliminated in the group stage ||||||||||
| 5 | Kuwait | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 4 |
| 6 | Saudi Arabia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 |
| 7 | United Arab Emirates | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 1 |
| 8 | Yemen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 0 |

## Prize money and awards
### Prize money

| Position | Amount (USD) |
| Champions | 1,000,000 |
| Runner-up | 750,000 |
| Total | 1,750,000 |

### Player awards

The following awards were given:
| Award | Player |
| Top Scorer | Aymen Hussein |
| Most Valuable Player | Ibrahim Bayesh |
| Best Goalkeeper | Ibrahim Al-Mukhaini |

## Broadcasters

Middle East
| Territory | Broadcaster |
| Bahrain | Bahrain Sport |
| Iraq | Al-Iraqiya Sports Alrabiaa Sports UTV Al-Sharqiya Al-Sumaria |
| Jordan | Jordan Sport |
| Kuwait | KTV Sports |
| Saudi Arabia | KSA Sport |
| Oman | Oman Sports |
| Qatar | Alkass |
| United Arab Emirates | AD Sports Dubai Sports Sharjah Sports |
Rest of the world
| Territory | Broadcaster |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia Montenegro North Macedonia Serbia Slovenia | Sport Klub |
| Poland | Polsat Sport |
| Greece | Nova Sports |

## Controversies
### Opening ceremony

Ahead of the opening ceremony, a scuffle ensued in the VIP section of the Basra International Stadium. Sheikh Fahad al-Nasser, who represents Kuwait's emir, was unable to enter as a result, and the Kuwaiti delegation left the stadium soon after. The Iraqi representatives apologised for the incident.

### Crowd stampede

A stampede outside Basra International Stadium, ahead of the final, killed one person and injured up to 60 others, according to reports. The incident was said to have been caused by thousands of fans without tickets turning up to the match early while the gates were still closed. In the afternoon, Basra authorities said the situation was under control and that the crowds had moved away from the stadium, and the final match went underway as scheduled.