Emirates News Agency – Basra ready for start of ‘Gulf 25’ competitions.

Basra, January 3, WAM/ The Iraqi city of Basra continues preparations for the launch of the Arabian Gulf Football Championship “Gulf 25”, scheduled for January 6-19, with 8 teams participating.
This is the first time in the history of the Gulf Arab Cup tournaments that the tournament is held in a city that is not the capital of the host country, bearing in mind that Iraq previously hosted it in 1979 in the capital, Baghdad, and the The Iraqi team won the title.
Government efforts are concerted in Iraq, and in the city of Basra in particular, to make this major Gulf football event a success.
The Gulf Cup Federation had previously approved the two international stadiums in Basra, known as the “trunk palm”, whose design was inspired by the trunk of the palm tree for which the city of Basra is famous, opened in 2013 (capacity of 60,000 spectators) and the opening ceremony of the tournament is held there, and the port stadium, which was officially inaugurated in December 2022 (30,000 spectators) to host the Gulf 25 matches.
These two stadiums are located in the vicinity of the Basra Sports City, which also includes an advanced medical centre, a cluster of modern hotels to house the teams, a training ground and shopping and entertainment centres. The cost of building the sports city amounted to nearly a billion dollars.
In terms of reassurance about the availability of all sports facilities, Adnan Darjal, president of the Iraqi Football Federation and chairman of the Gulf 25 Organizing Committee, inspected the hotels set to house the delegations that will reside in the city of Basra yesterday evening, Monday, as well such as the media tent, the Olympic port stadium and the video referee (VAR) technology system that will apply to the tournament.
Riyad Hadi, a member of the press office of the Iraqi Football Federation, also announced that the media center is one of the priorities of the tournament organizing committee’s work, given that the media is the interface of the tournament.
He explained that 3 conference halls have been prepared, where the main venue will be at the Manawi Pasha Hotel, the second at the Al-Mina Stadium and the last at the Basra Sports City Stadium.
The Organizing Committee also clarified that the opening of the 25th Gulf Cup will be distinct from all previous editions of Gulf Cup tournaments, and will be comparable to major international tournaments, especially after it was announced that artists Kazem El Saher and Rahma Riyad will relive the opening ceremony of the tournament next Friday night.