Gulf 26 draw sets stage for Oman’s clash with Kuwait

MUSCAT: The draw for the 26th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup, 'Gulf 26', was held on Saturday, and the tournament will be hosted by Kuwait from December 21 to January 3, 2025. The draw resulted in anticipated confrontations, with the first group including the host Kuwait, along with Qatar, the UAE, and Oman. The second group consists of Iraq, the title holder, alongside Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen.

The opening ceremony was attended by Abdulrahman al Mutairi, Minister of Information and Culture and Minister of State for Youth Affairs, Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa, Minister of Youth and Sports in Qatar, Chairman of the Arabian Gulf Cup Federation, Bashar Abdullah, Director-General of the General Authority for Sports, and Shaikh Ahmed al Youssef, President of the Kuwait Football Association. Jassim al Rumaihi, Secretary-General of the Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation, was also present.

Gulf 26 draw sets stage for Oman’s clash with Kuwait

The Oman national team will open the 26th Gulf Cup by facing Kuwait at Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium on the opening day of the tournament. The national team will also play Qatar on December 24 at 6:25 pm, and will face the UAE on December 27 at 6:30 pm Oman time. Both matches will take place at Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Stadium, respectively.

The tournament will be held under the slogan 'The Future is Gulf', in a single-round league system, with the first and second teams from each group qualifying for the semi-finals, which will be contested in a single-match knockout format.

Gulf 26 draw sets stage for Oman’s clash with Kuwait

Kuwait is hosting the Gulf Cup for the fifth time in its history, the most of any country. The Oman national team is preparing for its 24th participation in the Gulf Championships, which began with the third edition in Kuwait in 1974 and has continued sequentially through to the last edition in Basra at the beginning of 2024.

The most notable appearance of the national team was in Kuwait in 2017, when they won the Gulf title under the leadership of the late Dutch coach Pim Verbeek.

Khaled al Rawas, national football team manager, said, “The draw is largely balanced, and has produced two equal groups. It is perhaps one of the tournaments that has witnessed perfect balance. The Gulf competition has its own character, and our team will enter the championship as usual with full readiness, and we have time to prepare in a way that suits the importance of the event.”