The executive office of the 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.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and President Barham Salih both sent out congratulatory tweets following the decision from the AGCFF to approve Basra’s bid to host after years of rejection due to the country’s circumstances.
“We promise our people and our brothers in the Gulf that this football festival will be worthy of the name of Iraq, and match international standards,” said Kadhimi.
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 which takes place in November later this year.
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.
