The 23rd

Arabian Gulf Cup The Arabian Gulf Cup ( ar, كأس الخليج العربي, ''Kass Al-Khaleej Al-Arabi''), often referred to simply as the Gulf Cup, is a biennial football competition governed by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation for its eight member na ...

( ar, كأس الخليج العربي‎) was the 23rd edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the

Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation The Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF; ar, إتحاد كأس الخليج العربي لكرة القدم) is a regional association football body for eight member countries. It was established in May 2016, and its main competition is th ...

. It took place in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

from 22 December 2017 until 5 January 2018.

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

won their second title, defeating the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

in the final on penalties following a goalless draw. This tournament has the fewest goals-per-game average (1.53) in the history of Arabian Gulf Cup tournaments.

Hosting

The Gulf Cup tournament was originally scheduled to be in 2016. It was delayed to 2017 after Kuwait was suspended by FIFA, and the tournament was moved to Qatar. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, with an official decision set to be made in February 2015. On 2 February 2015, the Iraqi Ministry of Youth announced that Iraq would not host the competition due to a financial crisis in Iraq, but hoped to host the next edition in 2018. It would have been the second time that Iraq had hosted this competition after

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

which was held in the capital

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. Iraq was set to organize the two previous editions in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, but the tournament shifted each time, after concerns over preparations and security. Instead, it was moved to Kuwait to be the hosts for the fourth time, after the editions of

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. On 3 July 2015, it was announced that the awarding of hosting rights to Kuwait was postponed after reviewing the technical reports, and that a further announcement would be made later that month. The dates of the competition were also slightly changed to take place from 22 December 2015 to 4 January 2016. Again, on 3 August 2015, the dates of the championship were pushed back to December 2016 or January 2017 due to infrastructure problems in Kuwait, but Kuwait would remain the hosts of the competition. This again was changed in late August, when Kuwait announced that they would host as initially agreed in December 2015, that was after most domestic leagues in the region had re-arranged their calendars due to the earlier postponement. On 19 October 2015, Kuwait withdrew from hosting following

Kuwait Football Association The Kuwait Football Association ( ar, الإتحاد الكويتي لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Kuwait. Kuwait has thrice been suspended by FIFA for political interference since 2007 and were allowed to participate ...

's suspension from

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. Kuwait were to be once again re-instated as hosts on 27 April 2016, if their suspension by FIFA was lifted by May 2016, failing this, the tournament would be hosted by Qatar in December 2017. The suspension was not lifted at the 66th FIFA Congress and therefore, as decided from the earlier announcement on 27 April, the tournament would be moved to Qatar to be played in December 2017. Concerns were later raised on Qatar's hosting of the event due to the

Qatar diplomatic crisis The Qatar diplomatic crisis was a diplomatic incident in the Middle East that began on 5 June 2017 when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar and banned Qatar-registered planes and ships ...

, although no official announcement has been made by 11 September 2017. In November 2017,

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

, the

, and

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...

pulled out of the Gulf Cup. On 6 December 2017, after Kuwait's adoption of a new sports law, Kuwait FA's FIFA suspension was lifted. On 7 December 2017, it was announced that Kuwait will again host the tournament after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain threatened to withdraw because of the said diplomatic crisis.

Teams

Venues

Squads

Group stage

All times are local ( UTC+03:00).

Group A

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Group B

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Knockout stage

All times are local ( UTC+03:00).

Semi-finals

---- ----

Final

Winner

Goalscorers

;2 goals *

Jamal Rashid Jamal Rashid Abdulrahman Yusuf ( ar, جمال رشيد عبد الرحمن يوسف; born 7 November 1988), commonly known as Jamal Rashid, is a Bahraini footballer who plays for Al-Muharraq SC in the Bahraini Premier League. Club career Jamal b ...

* Ali Faez * Ali Husni * Said Al-Ruzaiqi * Almoez Ali ;1 goal * Ali Madan * Mahdi Kamil *

Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Mohannad Abdul-Raheem Karrar ( ar, مهند عبد الرحيم كرار; born 22 September 1993), is an Iraqi Association football, footballer who plays for Naft Al-Wasat and the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. An Olympian, Moh ...

* Mukhtar Fallatah * Salman Al-Moasher * Abdullah Al Buraiki * Ahmed Kano *

Akram Afif Akram Hassan Afif Yahya Afif Al Yafei ( ar, أكرم عفيف; born 18 November 1996) is a Qatari professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Qatar Stars League club Al Sadd and the Qatar national team. Early in his career, he was ...

Hassan Al-Haydos Hassan Khalid Hassan Al-Haydos ( ar, حسن خالد حسن الهيدوس; born 11 December 1990) is a Qatari professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Qatar Stars League club Al-Sa ...

* Al-Mahdi Ali Mukhtar * Ró-Ró *

Ali Mabkhout Ali Ahmed Mabkhout Mohsen Al Hajeri ( ar, علي أحمد مبخوت محسن الهاجري; born 5 October 1990) is an Emirati professional association football player who plays for UAE Pro League club Al Jazira Club, Al Jazira and the United A ...

;1 own goal * Mahdi Abduljabbar

Awards

The following awards were given:

Team statistics

This table shows all team performance.

Media

Broadcasting

References

External links

Official site
{{2018 in Asian football (AFC) Arabian Gulf Cup

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2017–18 in Kuwaiti football