Gulf Cup of Nations

Gulf Cup of Nations

Founded	1968, officially in 1970
Region	Arabia/Middle East (AFC)
Number of teams	8 (Qualifiers) 4 (Finals)
Current champions	Kuwait  (10th title)
Most successful team	Kuwait  (10 titles out of 20 in total)
Website	www.gulf-cup.net www.gulfcup.com
2010 Gulf Cup of Nations

The Gulf Cup of Nations (Arabic: كأس الخليج‎), also known as Khaleeji followed by the edition of the games (e.g. Khaleeji 17, Khaleeji 18, Khaleeji 19, etc), is a football (soccer) tournament currently held every two years rotating the host city every edition. Previously the competition was usually held on a biannual basis, but the history of the competition has also seen it held every 3, or even 4 years, due to political, or organizational problems.

The Gulf Cup of Nations was founded at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico by Persian Gulf nations, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The First Gulf Cup tournament took place in Bahrain in 1970, and was won by the Kuwaiti team.

For the first time, the 17th edition of the tournament, held in Doha, Qatar in 2004, featured sports such as handball, basketball, and volleyball. The 2007 and 2009 tournaments included these sports as well.

The 2009 Gulf Cup, the 19th edition, took place in Muscat, Oman, from 4 January to 17 January 2009 and was won by Oman, for the first time in their history by beating regional leaders, Saudi Arabia in a penalty shootout.

An increasing popularity

View of the jam-packed stadium during the 2007 Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi

.

The Gulf Cup has dramatically featured increased attendance in the stadia, as well as increased public, and worldwide attention. This has been in particular due to Qatar's role in expanding and improving the competition. Due to Qatar spending big on sports, and hosting competitions such as the 2006 Asian Games, as well as various international tennis events, the Qatari Ministry of Sports, and the State of Qatar was more than happy to improve the local competition.

During the 2004 Gulf Cup of Nations, which was held in Qatar, the stadiums were generally full, due to Qatar's advertising and impressive planning and handling of the competition. Also during the 2004 competition, a new trophy was constructed in Italy to further push the Gulf Cup of Nations to become a competition on the worldwide level. Another impressive difference between this competition, and previous ones was the fact that more than football was competed for, but this time volleyball, handball, and basketball were also included in the competition.

Another major point that helped Qatar improve the competition was the fact that Al Jazeera Sports, the leading sports channel in West Asia, and North Africa is based in Doha. Al Jazeera Sports won broadcasting rights to the 2004, and exclusively in the 2009 Gulf Cup after a deal ending in $23.5 million, and dramatically reformed the Gulf Cup of Arabian Nations by hosting numerous talk shows and documentaries, on top of filming in HD and perfecting camerawork of matches.

The Gulf Cup of Nations tournament is a tournament not officially recognized by FIFA, but recent steps have been taken to make the competition official, such as the attending of matching from powerful people in football, such as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, and UEFA president, Michel Platini.

Future hosts and past winners of the Gulf Cup of Nations

Year	Host	Champion	Runner Up
2015	Iraq
2013	Bahrain
2010	Yemen	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
2009	Oman	Oman	Saudi Arabia
2007	United Arab Emirates	United Arab Emirates	Oman
2004	Qatar	Qatar	Oman
2003	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia	Bahrain
2002	Saudi Arabia	Saudi Arabia	Qatar
2000	Cancelled	none awarded	none awarded
1998	Bahrain	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
1996	Oman	Kuwait	Qatar
1994	United Arab Emirates	Saudi Arabia	United Arab Emirates
1992	Qatar	Qatar	Bahrain
1990	Kuwait	Kuwait	Qatar
1988	Saudi Arabia	Iraq	United Arab Emirates
1986	Bahrain	Kuwait	United Arab Emirates
1984	Oman	Iraq	Qatar
1982	United Arab Emirates	Kuwait	Bahrain
1979	Iraq	Iraq	Kuwait
1976	Qatar	Kuwait	Iraq
1974	Kuwait	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
1972	Saudi Arabia	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
1970	Bahrain	Kuwait	Bahrain

Most Gulf Cup of Nations champions

Champion(s)	Nation	Year(s)	Runner-Up	Third Place	Fourth Place
10 times	Kuwait	1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010	1979,	2002	2004
3 times	Saudi Arabia	1994, 2002, 2003	1972, 1974, 1992, 1998, 2009, 2010	1970, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1996	1982
3 times	Iraq	1979, 1984, 1988	1976
2 times	Qatar	1992, 2004	1984, 1990, 1996, 2002	1974, 2003	1970, 1972, 1986, 1994
1 time	United Arab Emirates	2007	1986, 1988, 1994	1972, 1976, 1982, 1998	1974, 1984, 1992, 1996
1 time	Oman	2009	2004, 2007		1990, 1998, 2003
0 times	Bahrain		1970, 1982, 1992, 2003	1990, 1994, 2004	1976, 1979, 1988, 2002
0 times	Yemen

• Iraq was banned from the competition from 1991 to 2003.
• Yemen and Bahrain have not yet won the championship.
• Bahrain and Saudi Arabia had a joint second place in 1992.
• There was no third place for the Gulf Cup in 2007 and 2009.

All-time goal records

Nation	Goals Scored	Tournaments	Games Played	Goals per Game
Kuwait	181	20	99	1.83
Saudi Arabia	144	19	94	1.61
Qatar	110	20	97	1.16
Bahrain	103	19	91	1.14
United Arab Emirates	94	19	93	1.02
Iraq	88	9	45	2.13
Oman	69	18	91	0.73
Yemen	9	5	18	0.50

• Kuwait reached 100 goals on 03-03-1988 vs Qatar

• Saudi Arabia reached 100 goals on 19-10-1996 vs Qatar

• Qatar reached 100 goals on 16-12-2004 vs Oman

Does not include goals from annulled or abandoned games (1972 - Bahrain games, 1982 & 1990 Iraq games)

Includes 1974 Preliminary Round games

Does not include penalty shoot-out goals

Other records

• Biggest Win - 8 Goals

Kuwait 8 – 0 Oman (29-03-1976)

• Most Goals in a game - 8 Goals

Kuwait 8 – 0 Oman (29-03-1976)

• Most Individual Goals in a Single Game - 5 Goals

Majed Abdullah Saudi Arabia (03-04-1979 vs. Qatar)

Jassem Al Houwaidi Kuwait 1998 vs. Qatar

• Most Individual Goals in a Single Tournament - 10 Goals

Hussein Saeed Iraq (1979)

FIFA

The Gulf Cup of Nations tournament is a tournament not officially recognized by FIFA, but recent steps have been taken to make the competition official, such as the attending of matching from powerful people in football, such as FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, and UEFA president, Michel Platini.

See also

• Under 23 Gulf Cup of Nations
• Under 17 Gulf Cup of Nations
• AFC
• AFC Asian Cup
• Arab Nations Cup
• East Asian Cup
• South Asian Football Federation Cup
• ASEAN Football Championship
• West Asian Football Federation Championship

External links

• RSSSF
• Kooora (Goalzz)
• Official Gulf Cup website
• Qatari-run Gulf Cup website
• Official site of the 19th Gulf Cup