Bengaluru: Kuwait is in the middle of a comeback in world football. There was a time when the Blue Waves (Kuwait’s nickname is Al Azraq or Blue Waves) swept from the Persian Sea to the Asian mainland with consecutive victories in the Asian Cup and the Gulf Cup. In the 1970s and 1980s, they ran on the path paved by Kuwait’s golden generation for three decades.
The time when Brazilian coaches Carlos Pereira and Lui Filipe Scolari shone in the coach’s jersey. The 1982 World Cup team reached their best position in the rankings in 1998; 24th rank. Despite the destabilizing invasion of Iraq in 1990, the team’s performance remained unchanged, but the team was subsequently banned three times (2007, 2008, 2015) by the International Football Federation for off-field political reasons. Kuwait is now ranked 143rd according to FIFA’s ranking list, which dropped to 189th.
The past two decades have been a period of survival for Kuwaiti football. During this period, Kuwait went through the worst performance in their history. The latest ban imposed by FIFA from October 16, 2015 to December 6, 2017 on account of the new sports law introduced in Kuwait has destroyed football in the country. Except for two or three people, one generation left the national team.
Even club football is dead in the country. The team fell back from the 139th rank. After the ban, the Kuwaiti national team is re-forming for the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Although they finished second in the group behind strong Australia, they failed to enter the final round. It was Kuwait’s best performance since 2006 in the World Cup qualifying round. Kuwait League football is getting active after leaving the suspension hangover. The country has top tier teams including Kuwait SC who are AFC Cup champions in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
It is observed that it will take time for Kuwait to fully recover from the wounds inflicted on the country’s football system. No other Gulf country can claim Kuwait’s feat of winning the Arabian Gulf Cup 10 times. Its nine crowns were in the period from 1970 to 1998. After winning the last title in 2010, there has been little success since then. In the recent Gulf Cup, Kuwait had four points along with Qatar in the group consisting of Bahrain, Qatar and UAE teams. However, Qatar entered the semi-finals on average.
The team went on a nine-game unbeaten run after losing 2-0 to Qatar in January. Meanwhile, only Bahrain and India were tied. Portuguese coach Rui Bento, who took charge last year, is the team coach. An unbeaten run in the SAFF Cup has taken the team to the finals. A title win after so many years would be a resurgence for Kuwaiti football in addition to a jump in the rankings.
2023-07-02 02:10:45
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