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Iraq
Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium in Basra on December 16, 2022. Photo: Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq on Saturday announced that it has put the final touches into al-Minaa Olympic Stadium in Basra ahead of the 25th Gulf Cup in January.
“The company arranging the opening ceremony of the Gulf Cup visited the stadium and an agreement has been made on all the arrangements,” Hussein Mustafa al-Jasim, director of the stadium project told Iraqi state media.
Jasim added that all other preparations have been made, and companies from Spain and UK have taken part in the preparations.
The executive office of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) confirmed that they will be moving forward with the city of Basra as the host the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, following a report from the body’s inspection committee which deemed the city eligible to hold the tournament.
Basra had been selected to host three previous editions since 2010 of the Gulf Cup but the venue was changed each time due to concerns that Iraq was not safe enough.
The tournament is set to take place from January 6 to January 19, 2023. It was initially set to take place in December 2022, but was postponed as it was believed to be scheduled too close to the World Cup in Qatar.
The only time Iraq hosted the Gulf Cup was in 1979 when they also emerged victorious. The country shares the honor of being the second most-decorated Gulf Cup champion of all time, a position it shares with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, having won the tournament three times, despite competing in only 14 editions of the cup. Kuwait leads the ranking, having won 10 times.
Despite the country’s constant state of political instability and disunity, the Iraqi population’s special connection to the sport of football has managed to unify the people at times of major regional and international tournaments, coming to the support of the national team regardless of their humble results.
The people of Iraq took to the streets to celebrate in 2007 after the team was crowned as the champion of the Asian Cup for the first time in history, at a time when the country was traversing one of its most turbulent and volatile episodes.
“The company arranging the opening ceremony of the Gulf Cup visited the stadium and an agreement has been made on all the arrangements,” Hussein Mustafa al-Jasim, director of the stadium project told Iraqi state media.
Jasim added that all other preparations have been made, and companies from Spain and UK have taken part in the preparations.
The executive office of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) confirmed that they will be moving forward with the city of Basra as the host the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup, following a report from the body’s inspection committee which deemed the city eligible to hold the tournament.
Basra had been selected to host three previous editions since 2010 of the Gulf Cup but the venue was changed each time due to concerns that Iraq was not safe enough.
The tournament is set to take place from January 6 to January 19, 2023. It was initially set to take place in December 2022, but was postponed as it was believed to be scheduled too close to the World Cup in Qatar.
The only time Iraq hosted the Gulf Cup was in 1979 when they also emerged victorious. The country shares the honor of being the second most-decorated Gulf Cup champion of all time, a position it shares with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, having won the tournament three times, despite competing in only 14 editions of the cup. Kuwait leads the ranking, having won 10 times.
Despite the country’s constant state of political instability and disunity, the Iraqi population’s special connection to the sport of football has managed to unify the people at times of major regional and international tournaments, coming to the support of the national team regardless of their humble results.
The people of Iraq took to the streets to celebrate in 2007 after the team was crowned as the champion of the Asian Cup for the first time in history, at a time when the country was traversing one of its most turbulent and volatile episodes.
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