This weekend will kick off the start of this year’s Arabian Gulf Cup 

Qatar’s teams arrived in the Iraqi city of Basra to compete in the Arabian Gulf Cup, joining top players from around the region for the tournament.

Having already rested many of its first-team players, Qatar underwent a 10-day training camp at the Aspire Academy.

Absent from the 23-man Qatar squad is Mohammed Muntari, who scored the country’s only goal at the World Cup.

Muntari’s absence from the Iraqi pitch is a blow for the Maroons, who will also be without captain Hassan al-Haydos, Akram Afif, Almoez Ali, Abdulaziz Hatem, and Karim Boudiaf.

2018 Asian Footballer of the Year award, Abdelkarim Hassan will also not appear with the likes of Boualam Khoukhi, Bassam al-Rawi, Saad al-Sheeb, and Pedro Miguel.

Replacing the starters is a breed of rising stars from the country who Coach Bruno Miguel Pinheiro will lead.

Replacing Felix Sanchez, the Portuguese coach has selected several young stars to open the country’s campaign against Kuwait on Saturday.

Qatar’s defence will enlist goalkeepers Meshaal Barsham, Mahmoud Abunada, and Shehab El Laithi.

Al Saad’s Hashim Ali and Yousuf Abdurisag will join the team, alongside Salem al Hajri, Ali Asad, Mostafa Meshaal, Tarek Salman, and Iraqi footballer Mohamed Waad.

Ismaeel Mohamed, Mohamed Emad, Diab Haroun, Assim Madibo will represent Al Duhail’s side.

Al Gharafa representatives for the national team will only include Homam al Amin and Amro Suraj, while Ahmed Fadel, Khaled Muneer, and Hazem Ahmed will star for Al Wakrah.

Jassim Jaber and Abunada will act for Al Arabi, Al Rayyan’s side will mark Naif al Hadhrami and Tamim Mansour Al Muftah.

Iraq

Iraq’s Football Association announced their final squad, which Spanish coach Jesus Casas will lead.

Goalkeeper and captain Jalal Hassan will star alongside Fahd Talib, Ahmed Basil, Manaf Younis, Ali Fayez, Mustafa Nazim, Zaid Tahseen, Elai Fadel, Hussein Ammar, Dhurgham Ismail, Ahmed Yahya, Muhammad Ali Abboud, Amir Al Ammari, Rewan Amin, Ibrahim Baish, Hussein Ali and Ahmed Yassin.

Hassan Abdul-Karim, Hussein Jabbar, Aso Rostam, Alaa Abbas, Moamel Abdulridha, and Sherko Karim will also star in the squad.

United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena announced his final squad to participate in the Arabian Gulf Cup, naming his 23 players.

Khaled Issa, Ali Khaseif, Khaled Al-Sanani, Khalifa Al-Hammadi, Walid Abbas, Khaled Al-Hashemi, Abdul Salam Muhammad, Khaled Al-Dhanhani, Abdulaziz Haikal and Ahmed Jamil.

In addition, Badr Nasser and Majid Rashid, Abdullah Ramadan, Majed Hassan, Falah Walid, Khaled Al-Balooshi, Muhammad Abdul-Basit, Ali Saleh, Fabio de Lima, Hareb Abdullah, Yahya Al-Ghassani, Caio Canedo, Sebastian Tigali will all feature.

The UAE will face Group B, which includes Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, at the tournament.

Saudi Arabia

Saad Al-Shehri has selected his young men for the Iraqi contest.

The list included 23 players, whose names are as follows: Nawaf Al-Aqidi, Abdul Basit Hawsawi, Muhammad Al-Absi, Madallah Al-Olayan, Muhammad Abu Al-Shamat, Ahmed Basamoud, Hussein Al-Subyani, Ziyad Al-Sahafi, Mishaal Al-Subyani, Rayan Hamed, Kassim Lagami, Riyad Sharahili, Faisal Al-Ghamdi, Awad Al-Nashiri, Nayef Masoud, Musab Al-Juwair, Saad Al-Nasser, Hussein Al-Issa, Samihan Al-Nabit, Turki Al-Ammar, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, Raed Al-Ghamdi, Muhammad Maran.

Oman

Croatian Branko Ivankovic has appointed his squad’s roster, which features the following players: Ahmed Al-Rawahi, Muhammad Al-Muslim, Juma Al-Habsi, Mahmoud Al-Mashifri, Hareb Al-Saad, Salah Al-Yahyai, ​​Faiz Al-Rashid, Ahmed Al-Khamisi, Amjad. Al-Harti, Ahmed al-Adaw, Essam al-Subhi, Ahmed al-Matroosh, Ibrahim al-Mukhain, and Ahmed al-Kaabi.

The list also included Moatazi Saleh Abed Rabo, Jamil al-Yahmadi, Musab al-Maamar, Fahmi Beit Durbin, Khaled al-Buraik, Zaher al-Aghbari, Omar al-Maliki, Arshad al-Alawi, and al-Mundhir al-Alawi.

Kuwait

Arriving at the Gulf Cup, Kuwait is the most triumphant team in the tournament’s history, with ten titles.

Portuguese coach Roy Pinto has announced his men, who will seek to break history in this year’s edition.

The list includes Dhari Al-Otaibi, Suleiman Abdul-Ghafour, Badr Al-Sanoun, Muhammad Al-Nassar, Mahdi Dashti, Meshari Ghannam, Muhammad Bajia, Mubarak Al-Fenini, Faisal Zayed, Fawaz Ayed, Fahd Al-Hajri, Eid Al-Rashidi, and Ali Khalaf. , Abdullah Al-Fahd, Ibrahim Kamil, Ahmed Al-Dhafiri, Shabib Al-Khalidi, Sultan Al-Anzi, Khaled Muhammad Ibrahim, Badr Jamal, Hamad Al-Qallaf, Hassan Hamdan, and Badr Tariq.

Bahrain

Headed by Helio Sousa, the Portuguese coach has included Ali Madan, Abdulla Yusuf, Ali Haram, Hamad Shamsan, Jassim Al Shaikh, Komail Alaswad, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, and Sayed Redha Isa.

Abdulla Alkhalasi, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Ahmed AI Sherooqi, Amine Hasan, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, and Waleed Al Hayam; Ahmed Bughammar, Mahdi Humaidan, Mohammed Adel and Sayed Dhiya Saeed; Ebrahim AI Khattal and Mahdi Abdullatif; Ebrahim Lutfallah; Omar Salem; Hamza Adrees.

Yemen

With no Arabian Gulf Cup titles in the trophy case, Yemen’s head coach Miroslav Soukup has a challenge ahead of him.

All hope falls on the shoulders the following players: Salem Al-Harish, Muhammad Aman, Ali Fadl, Haroun Youssef, Mudeer Al-Radai, Akram Al-Bahri, Ahmed Al-Wajih, Jarallah Al-Zaghari, Imad Al-Jadaima, Amr Lutf, Omar Shared,  Muhammad Bahmeed.

Also on the team are Muhammad Al-Tiri, Muhammad Al-Najjar, Hamza Hanash, Anis Al-Maari, Omar Al-Dahi, Muhammad Al-Dahi, Ali Al-Omari, Ahmed Maher, Abdel-Wasea Al-Matari, Ahmed Al-Sururi, Hamza Al-Rimi, Ayman Al-Hajri, and Nasser Muhammadoh.