27th Arabian Gulf Cup

27th Arabian Gulf Cup
كأس الخليج العربي 27
Tournament details
Host countrySaudi Arabia
CityJeddah
Dates23 September – 6 October 2026
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)

The 27th Arabian Gulf Cup will be the 27th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Gulf Football Federation.[1][2] The tournament will be held in Saudi Arabia from 23 September to 6 October 2026.[3]

Teams

Team Appearance Previous best
performance		 FIFA Rankings
April 2026
 Qatar27thWinners (1992, 2004, 2014)55
 Iraq18thWinners (1979, 1984, 1988, 2023)57
 Saudi Arabia (hosts)26thWinners (1994, 2002, 2003–04)61
 United Arab Emirates26thWinners (2007, 2013)68
 Oman25thWinners (2009, 2017–18)79
 Bahrain (holders)27thWinners (2019, 2024–25)91
 Kuwait27thWinners (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2010)134
 Yemen12thGroup stage (2003–04, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017–18, 2019, 2023, 2024–25)149

Draw

The draw was held on 19 May 2026 at 16:00 UTC+3 in Jeddah. The eight teams were drawn into two groups of four, by selecting one team from each of the four ranked pots. Their positions were based on the FIFA ranking updated on 1 April.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4

Venues

About OpenStreetMaps
Maps: terms of use
500km
311miles
1
1 Jeddah
1 Jeddah
Location of areas hosting the 27th Arabian Gulf Cup
1
Jeddah
Saudi Arabia Jeddah
King Abdullah Sports City Stadium Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City Stadium
Capacity: 62,345 Capacity: 27,000

Group stage

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Saudi Arabia (H) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2  Iraq 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Oman 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4  Kuwait 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 23 September 2026. Source: GFF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
(H) Hosts
Iraq v Oman
Saudi Arabia v Kuwait
Kuwait v Iraq
Oman v Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia v Iraq
Oman v Kuwait

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United Arab Emirates 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Knockout stage
2  Qatar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Bahrain 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4  Yemen 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: 24 September 2026. Source: GFF
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers
United Arab Emirates v Yemen
Qatar v Bahrain
Yemen v Qatar
United Arab Emirates v Qatar
Bahrain v Yemen

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out are used to decide the winner if necessary.

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
3 October 2026 – Jeddah
 
 
Winner Group A
 
6 October 2026 – Jeddah
 
Runner-up Group B
 
Winner Semi-final 1
 
3 October 2026 – Jeddah
 
Winner Semi-final 2
 
Winner Group B
 
 
Runner-up Group A
 

Semi-finals

Winner Group ASemi-final 1Runner-up Group B
Winner Group BSemi-final 2Runner-up Group A

Final

Winner Semi-final 1vWinner Semi-final 2

Discipline

A player or team official is automatically suspended for the next match of the tournament for the following offenses:

  • Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offenses).
  • Receiving two yellow cards in the tournament;[A]

The following suspensions occurred during the tournament:

Tournament suspensions for players and team officials
Player Offense(s) Suspension(s)
Qatar national football team Assim Madibo Red card in 2026 FIFA World Cup vs  Canada (18 June 2026) Group B vs  Bahrain (matchday 1; 24 September)
Group B vs  Yemen (matchday 2; 27 September)
Group B vs  United Arab Emirates (matchday 3; 30 September)[B]
Iraq national football team Rebin Sulaka Red card in 2026 FIFA World Cup vs  Senegal (26 June 2026) Group A vs  Oman (matchday 1; 23 September)

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ↑ As yellow cards are not carried forward to penalty shootouts, players may be shown two yellow cards in the same match without being sent off. However, this would result in a suspension for accumulating two yellow cards during the tournament.
  2. ↑ Madibo was handed a five-match ban, of which four matches must still be served. If Qatar fails to reach the semifinals, the final match of the suspension will be carried over to the next international match, likely in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "جدة تستضيف كأس الخليج العربي الـ 27 في سبتمبر 2026" (in Arabic). Maspero. 2 January 2026.
  2. ↑ "رسميا.. جدة تستضيف خليجي 27 في سبتمبر المقبل" (in Arabic). El Watan News. 2 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "الخميس إعلان استضافة السعودية «خليجي 27» في سبتمبر 2026".
  4. ↑ Staff (June 24, 2026). "Qatar's Madibo given five-match ban for tackle that injured Canada's Kone". StraitsTimes. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.