The big tournaments aren’t over yet in the Persian Gulf, after the World Cup in Qatar ended with a spectacular final three weeks ago. In the shadow of European club football, which is just picking up speed again, the 25th Arab Gulf Cup was opened in Iraq last Friday, in which the World Cup participants Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among others, are playing. Two days earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo was introduced to the Saudi club Al-Nasr. When it comes to big football moments, the region never rests.
With a devoted performance of their national anthem, the many Iraqis among the 65,000 people in the Basra International Stadium on Friday celebrated their team and their nation. Heads of state and ministers sat in the stands for the opening match of the 2023 Arab Gulf Cup between Iraq and Oman, as is usual on such occasions, with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino also present. In terms of atmosphere, the Gulf Cup is possibly even more intense than many World Cup games.
Middle East remains football region
In any case, even after the big tournament in Qatar, the nations of the Persian Gulf remain a dynamic football region, says James Dorsey, one of the leading football experts in the Arab world. “There are a number of football powerhouses in the Middle East that haven’t yet been able to shine on the World Cup stage. But they shine on a regional level. Iraq, like most other Middle Eastern nations, is football mad. And the fact that here If a tournament like this takes place, people will be excited.”
Iraq – a country between war and terror
According to official information, 90 percent of the tickets for the two stadiums at the only venue Basra have already been sold. In front of some ticket offices, people queued for hours. Basra, the center of Iraq’s oil industry, has been spruced up. And as is almost always the case with such tournaments, this one is also about more than victories and defeats. Iraq is a country ravaged by war and terror, whose national team has not been allowed to play home games for years due to the difficult security situation. Between 1990 and 2004, the nation was completely banned from many competitions following the invasion of Kuwait.
Arab Gulf Cup means step back to normality
In this respect, the Arab Gulf Cup event is a step back into a new normality. “Iraq is back 20 years after the Iraq war,” writes the English-language newspaper “Arab News” from Jeddah. The nation is making a name for itself again on the global stage and beginning that return by hosting the Arab Gulf Cup. While the tournament is less sportingly relevant, says James Dorsey, “it is a significant competition in the sense that it is one of the first major regional events to take place after all the violence in Iraq. The tournament underscores the role of the Iraq as a regional power, and such is the country with all its problems.”
Iraq wants to demonstrate stability
Last but not least, Iraq wants to use the tournament to underpin its significantly improved relations with its Gulf neighbors and to demonstrate that the country is stable and open to visitors. The thesis is also being discussed in regional media that the Arab brotherhood that could be observed at the World Cup in Qatar could receive a further boost. During the world tournament, Morocco’s achievements and Saudi Arabia’s victory over Argentina were celebrated in the host country and across the Arab world, astounding many observers. Whereby Dorsey considers such considerations to be a beautiful fantasy that ignores reality. The relationship between some of the nations participating in the Gulf Cup is so difficult that there are not even direct flights between the capitals.
“I don’t think any sport can build bridges. What we saw in Qatar was people connecting with teams that they could identify with because they were Muslim and Arab, but that was mostly a statement in the context of the confrontation with the West, it was about things like Islamophobia and the feeling that Qatar was singled out and attacked,” says Dorsey.
European dealings with Qatar promoted reflex of fraternization
The way in which Europe, in particular, treats Qatar has been felt to be unfair in many countries, and that has pushed the reflex of fraternization. However, it is unlikely that football will change the political relationships between the Gulf Cup participants Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in the long term. However, the event, which has been held every three to four years since 1970, contributes to the impression that the region is developing.
Scenario: Middle East and North Africa soon united
And in the eyes of freelance journalist Dorsey, that could very well change the tectonics of world football. “I fear that in the foreseeable future, Saudi Arabia will make an attempt to develop the Middle East and North Africa into a separate continental federation within Fifa.”
The North African nations and the Arab members of the Asian Football Confederation could seek to abandon their old organizations and merge into a new powerhouse of world football. And then a tournament like the Arab Gulf Cup would take on a whole new meaning.