2025 Gulf Cup for Veteran Players

2025 Gulf Cup for Veteran Players
كأس الخليج الأولى لقدامى اللاعبين
Tournament details
Host country	Kuwait
Dates	22–26 February 2025
Teams	8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Iraq (1st title)
Runners-up	Oman
Tournament statistics
Matches played	15
Goals scored	11 (0.73 per match)
Top scorer	Ismail Al-Ajmi (2 goals)
Best player	Karrar Jassim
Best goalkeeper	Noor Sabri
	2027 →

The 2025 Gulf Cup for Veteran Players was the first edition of the Gulf Cup for Veteran Players for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation.^[1] The tournament was held in Kuwait from 22–26 February 2025 for retired players that have participated in previous Arabian Gulf Cup tournaments.^[2] The tournament was originally set to start on 20 February, but the start date was postponed by two days.^[3] Each match was 40 minutes in length.^[4]

The tournament was won by Iraq, who defeated Oman 4–3 on penalties in the final after a 0–0 draw.^[5] The success of the inaugural tournament led to calls to continue holding the competition alongside future Arabian Gulf Cups.^[6]

Teams

Team^[7]	Appearance
Team^[7]	Appearance
Qatar	1st
Iraq	1st
Saudi Arabia	1st
United Arab Emirates	1st
Bahrain	1st
Oman	1st
Kuwait (hosts)	1st
Yemen	1st

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 20 players, all of whom must be retired or over the age of 40, including three goalkeepers. All players must have taken part in at least one previous Arabian Gulf Cup tournament.^[8]

Venues

60km
37miles

1

🌍

Location of areas hosting the 1st Gulf Cup for Veteran Players

1

Sulaibikhat


Sulaibikhat Stadium^[9]
Capacity: 15,000

Officials

Referees

All referees in charge of the tournament are retired referees who officiated at least one match in a previous Arabian Gulf Cup tournament.^[10]

Saoud Ali Al Adba
Nassir Rashid Hamdan
Ali Shaban
Ahmed Qaid Saif Anaam
Mohammed Amr
Najim Aboud
Nawaf Shukralla
Mohammed Jumaa

Group stage

Tiebreakers
Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tiebreaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings: Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams; Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams; If more than two teams were tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams were still tied, all head-to-head criteria above were reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams; Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points); Drawing of lots.

Teams were divided into two groups according to the same draw as the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup. All times are local (UTC+03:00).^[11]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5	Knockout stage
2	Qatar	3	0	3	0	1	1	0	3	Knockout stage
3	Kuwait (H)	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	3
4	United Arab Emirates	3	0	2	1	0	1	−1	2

Source: AGCFF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

22 February 2025

19:45

Qatar	0–0	United Arab Emirates
	Report

Semi-finals		Final

25 February 2024 – Sulaibikhat

Oman	2
		26 February 2024 - Sulaibikhat
Bahrain	1
		Oman	0 (3)
25 February 2024 – Sulaibikhat
		Iraq (p)	0 (4)
Iraq	1

Qatar	0

Position	Amount (USD)^[14]
Champions	200,000
Runner-up	150,000
Total	350,000

Position	Amount (QAR)^[14]
Top Scorer	50,000
Best Goalkeeper	50,000
Most Valuable Player	50,000
Total	150,000

Award	Player
Top Scorer	Ismail Al-Ajmi^[15]
Most Valuable Player	Karrar Jassim^[16]
Best Goalkeeper	Noor Sabri^[17]

Teams

Squads

Venues

Officials

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Winner

Goalscorers

Prize money and awards

Prize money

Player awards

References