Arabian Gulf Cup

The idea for the tournament was established at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and the first Arabian Gulf Cup took place in 1970 which was won by Kuwait. Kuwait has been the most successful team in the tournament's history, winning 10 tournaments out of 24 in total, while Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq all have three titles. The current champions are Bahrain, who defeated Saudi Arabia in 2019 to win their first title.

In 2017, the member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. In July 2019, the AGCFF announced that the 24th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup will be held in Doha. In October 2019, the three countries also announced to boycott the tournament.[8] Later in November 2019, the three countries announced to take part in the 24th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup tournament to be hosted by Qatar.[9]

View of the jam-packed stadium during the 18th Arabian Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi in 2007

A major point that helped Qatar improve the competition was the fact that Al Jazeera Sports, the leading sports channel in Western Asia, and North Africa is based in Doha. Al Jazeera Sports won broadcasting rights to the 2004, and exclusively in the 19th Arabian Gulf Cup in 2009[10] after a deal ending in million,[11] and dramatically reformed the Arabian Gulf Cup by hosting numerous talk shows and documentaries, on top of filming in HD and perfecting camerawork of matches.[12]

The tournament marked the presence of some of the most influential personalities of the football world, including FIFA President, Sepp Blatter,[13] and UEFA president, Michel Platini.[14][15] The FIFA Executive Committee has also put on their October 4, 2013 meeting agenda to hear the proposal for the Arabian Gulf Cup to be included in the international match calendar.[16]

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Third place	Fourth place	Semi-finalists	Total
Kuwait	10 (1970, 1972, 1974*, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990*, 1996, 1998, 2010)	1 (1979)	2 (2002, 2013)	1 (2004)	1 (2009)	15
Saudi Arabia	3 (1994, 2002*, 2003–04)	7 (1972*, 1974, 1998, 2009, 2010, 2014*, 2019)	7 (1970, 1979, 1984, 1986, 1988*, 1992, 1996)	1 (1982)	1 (2007)	19
Qatar	3 (1992*, 2004*, 2014)	4 (1984, 1990, 1996, 2002)	2 (1976*, 2003–04)	5 (1970, 1972, 1974, 1986, 1994)	2 (2009, 2019*)	16
Iraq	3 (1979*, 1984, 1988)	2 (1976, 2013)	–	–	3 (2010, 2017–18, 2019)	8
United Arab Emirates	2 (2007*, 2013)	4 (1986, 1988, 1994*, 2017–18)	5 (1972, 1974, 1982*, 1998, 2014)	3 (1984, 1992, 1996)	1 (2010)	15
Oman	2 (2009*, 2017–18)	2 (2004, 2007)	–	4 (1990, 1998, 2003–04, 2014)	–	8
Bahrain	1 (2019)	4 (1970*, 1982, 1992, 2003–04)	3 (1990, 1994, 2004)	5 (1976, 1979, 1988, 2002, 2013*)	2 (2007, 2017–18)	15
Yemen	–	–	–	–	–	0

Note:

• An asterisk (*) beside the year in the above table means that country hosted the tournament.

Team	1970	1972	1974	1976	1979	1982	1984	1986	1988	1990	1992	1994	1996	1998	2002	2003–04	2004	2007	2009	2010	2013	2014	2017–18	2019	Total
Bahrain	2nd	WD	GS	4th	4th	2nd	GS	GS	4th	3rd	2nd	3rd	GS	GS	GS	2nd	3rd	SF	GS	GS	4th	GS	SF	1st	24
Emirates		3rd	4th	GS	GS	3rd	4th	2nd	2nd	GS	4th	2nd	4th	3rd	GS	GS	GS	1st	GS	SF	1st	3rd	2nd	GS	23
Iraq				2nd	1st	WD	1st	GS	1st	WD							GS	GS	GS	SF	2nd	GS	SF	SF	15
Kuwait	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	GS	1st	GS	1st	GS	GS	1st	1st	3rd	GS	4th	GS	SF	1st	3rd	GS	GS	GS	24
Oman			GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	GS	GS	4th	GS	4th	2nd	2nd	1st	GS	GS	4th	1st	GS	22
Qatar	4th	4th	3rd	3rd	GS	GS	2nd	4th	GS	2nd	1st	4th	2nd	GS	2nd	3rd	1st	GS	SF	GS	GS	1st	GS	SF	24
Saudi Arabia	3rd	2nd	2nd	GS	3rd	4th	3rd	3rd	3rd		3rd	1st	3rd	2nd	1st	1st	GS	SF	2nd	2nd	GS	2nd	GS	2nd	23
Yemen																GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	GS	9
Total	4	5	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8

Legend:

• #: Invitee
• Red border: Host nation
• Blank: Did not enter
• TBD: To be determined
• GS: Group stage
• SF: Semi-finalists (No third place match)
• WD: Withdrew

Note:

•  Iraq was banned from the competition from 1992 to 2003.
•  Yemen have not yet won the championship nor even won a single competitive game.
• There were no third place play-offs for the Arabian Gulf Cup in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2017–18, and 2019.

As of 2019 Cup

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Saudi Arabia	23	109	56	25	28	163	102	+61	193
2	Kuwait	24	113	56	23	33	194	112	+82	191
3	United Arab Emirates	23	111	41	28	39	117	135	−18	151
4	Qatar	24	112	41	25	41	130	129	+1	148
5	Bahrain	23	107	32	34	41	113	135	−22	130
6	Iraq	15	58	26	21	11	104	56	+48	99
7	Oman	22	104	19	27	58	81	176	−95	84
8	Yemen	9	30	0	6	24	9	77	−68	6

Source:[17]

Note: This table excludes eleven annulled games from 1972 (Bahrain were ejected from the competition), 1982 (Iraq were forced to withdraw due to the political situation in the country), and 1990 (Iraq were ejected from the competition).

All-time goal records by Tournaments:[18]

•  Kuwait reached 100 goals on 3 March 1988 vs  Qatar
•  Saudi Arabia reached 100 goals on 19 October 1996 vs  Qatar
•  Qatar reached 100 goals on 16 December 2004 vs  Oman
•  Iraq reached 100 goals on 2 December 2010 vs  Kuwait
•  Bahrain reached 100 goals on 11 January 2013 vs  Qatar
•  United Arab Emirates reached 100 goals on 11 January 2013 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

All-time top scorers

Updated on 4 December 2019.

Rank	Player	Country	Goals
1	Jasem Yaqoub	Kuwait	18
2	Majed Abdullah	Saudi Arabia	17
	Hussein Saeed	Iraq	17
4	Jasem Al Huwaidi	Kuwait	14
	Faisal Al-Dakhil	Kuwait	14
6	Ali Mabkhout	United Arab Emirates	13
	Mansour Muftah	Qatar	13
8	Bader Al-Mutawa	Kuwait	12
	Yussef Al-Suwayed	Kuwait	12
10	Fahad Khamees	United Arab Emirates	10
	Mahmoud Soufi	Qatar	10
	Yasser Al-Qahtani	Saudi Arabia	10

Players in bold are still active

Golden boot history

Year	Player(s)	Goals scored
1970	Mohammed Masawd	3
	Jawad Khalif
1972	Hamad Bu Hamood	6
1974	Jasem Yaqoub	6
1976	Jasem Yaqoub	9
1979	Hussein Saeed	10
1982	Ebrahim Zwaeed	3
	Saleem Khalifa
	Yussif Swaid
	Majed Abdullah
1984	Hussain Saeed	7
1986	Fahad Khamees	6
1988	Zuhair Bukheet	4
	Ahmad Radhi
1990	Mohammed Ebrahim Hajeyah	5
1992	Mubarak Mustafa	3
1994	Fuad Anwar	4
	Mahmoud Soufi
1996	Mohammed Salem Al-Enazi	4
1998	Jasem Al Huwaidi	9
2002	Hani Al-Dhabit	5
2003–04	Talal Yousef	5
2004	Amad Al Hosni	4
2007	Ismail Matar	5
2009	Hassan Rabia	4
2010	Bader Al-Mutawa	3
	Alaa Abdul-Zahra
2013	Ahmed Khalil	3
	Abdulhadi Khamis
2014	Ali Mabkhout	5
2017–18	Ali Husni	2
	Ali Faez
	Jamal Rashid
	Almoez Ali
	Said Al-Ruzaiqi
2019	Ali Mabkhout	5

Country	Players	Years
Kuwait	8	9 (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1990, 1998, 2010, 2013)
United Arab Emirates	6	7 (1982, 1986, 1988, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2019)
Iraq	4	5 (1979, 1984, 1988, 2010, 2017–18)
Oman		4 (2002, 2004, 2009, 2017–18)
Qatar		4 (1992, 1994, 1996, 2017–18)
Bahrain	3	3 (1982, 2003–04, 2017–18)
Saudi Arabia	2	2 (1982, 1994)
Yemen	0	0

• Biggest win – 8 goals

 Kuwait 8–0  Oman (29 March 1976)

• Most goals in a game – 8 goals

 Kuwait 8–0  Oman (29 March 1976)

• Most individual goals in a single game – 5 goals

Majed Abdullah,  Saudi Arabia (3 April 1979 vs  Qatar)

Jassem Al Houwaidi,  Kuwait (1998 vs  Qatar)

• Most individual goals in a single tournament – 10 goals

Hussein Saeed,  Iraq (1979)

• U23 Gulf Championship
• U20 Gulf Championship
• U17 Gulf Championship
• Arabian Gulf Futsal Cup
• WAFF Championship
• FIFA Arab Cup

• Gulf Cup official website at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 December 2010)
• Gulf Cup website at the Wayback Machine (archived 5 February 2006)
• Official website of the 19th Gulf Cup at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 February 2009)
• Gulf Cup – Hailoosport.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 3 May 2014) (in Arabic)
• Gulf Cup – Hailoosport.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 3 May 2014) (in English)