Basra, The opening whistle of the 25th Gulf Championship sounds in Basra this evening, Friday, with the Iraq-Oman match at the Sports City Stadium in Basra, led by an entire Romanian referee team, preceded by the opening activities of the tournament with the participation of artists and popular teams presenting visual and Gulf folklore.
Eight teams are participating in the tournament, divided into two groups. The first plays in the Palm Trunk Stadium, which includes Iraq – Yemen – Saudi Arabia – Oman, and the second group: Bahrain – Kuwait – Qatar – UAE.
The opening activities of Gulf 25 begin at half past five, after which the Iraqi and Omani teams match at seven o’clock in the evening, after our national team finished its preparations for the match, at a time when the city of Basra was adorned with the beauty of its view and corniche with the waves of the Shatt al-Arab, where thousands of citizens of Basra and other provinces and the two Gulfs witnessed the influx who will attend the tournament matches that will start today Friday.
The first edition of it was held in Bahrain in 1970, and the last tournament hosted by Qatar was in 2019, in which Bahrain crowned the first title in its history.
Iraq participated for the first time in the fourth Gulf Championship in Doha in 1976 and lost in the final match against Kuwait by four goals to two. Iraq was able to win the title of champion of the fifth edition in Baghdad in 1979, then won the title for the second and third times in the 1984 and 1988 editions.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency
