The Gulf Cup matches, ‘Gulf 25’, will start in two stadiums, which are Basra Stadium, nicknamed the ‘Palm Trunk’, and Al-Mina Stadium. Get to know them in detail.
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The stadiums of the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup (AFP)
The city of Basra in Iraq will host the Gulf Cup tournament, “Gulf 25”, from January 6 to 19.
Iraq hosts the championship in two stadiums, the first being Basra Stadium, nicknamed “The Palm Trunk”, which seats around 65,000 spectators. The other is located in the same city, which is the “Al Mina Stadium”, and can seat around 30,000 spectators.
Here’s a glimpse of the two host stadiums 👇
Palma Trunk Stadium
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Basra Stadium, nicknamed the Trunk of the Palm (Twitter)
It is located in Basra Sports City in Iraq. Opened in 2013, it is the largest stadium in Mesopotamia, with a capacity of around 65,000 spectators.
It is considered a unique masterpiece. It was inaugurated in 2013, with a capacity of over 65,000 spectators, with 5 stadiums attached, one of which has a capacity of 10,000 spectators, and 4 training fields.
It includes an Olympic swimming pool with a capacity of 10,000 spectators, 8 residential buildings for visitors, 5-star hotels, a polo field, a 150m high tower, a youth village, a sports medicine hospital, tennis courts, . It includes a garage that can accommodate approximately 10,000 cars.
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The design of the stadium was inspired by the trunk of the date palm, famous for its cultivation in the Iraqi city of Basra. The first international match was held on the field on June 1, 2017 between the Iraqi and Jordanian national teams, and ended with the victory of Iraq with only one goal scored by the player Alaa Abdul Zahra.
A match between Iraq Stars and World Stars was also held on 9 September 2017, and the match ended with World Stars winning 5 goals to Iraq Stars 4 goals.
Palm Trunk Stadium will host matches of the first group, which includes the owner of the ground, Iraq, Oman, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Al Minà Stadium
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25 Arabian Gulf Cup Stadiums (web)
Al Mina Stadium is one of the oldest stadiums in the Persian Gulf region. In 2011, the Iraqi Ministry of Youth and Sports demolished the stadium, to build another one on the same acreage, with a capacity of 30,000 spectators, after it held 10,000 spectators.
It was built on an area of 51 dunums in the Al-Maqal area of Basra and two training stadiums with a capacity of 400 spectators each were connected to it.
The stadium was officially reopened on December 26, 2022, in a match that brought together the Iraqi Al-Mina Club and the Kuwaiti Al-Kuwait Club, in which the latter won with two goals to one, and the opening is been experimental in front of the stadium it hosted the second round matches in the “Gulf 25” of Basra.
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Al Mina Stadium was designed in an architectural style that simulates the city’s history, nature and its relationship with the Gulf heritage. The wall of the stadium appears in the form of sea waves covered by an open circular roof in the shape of sails, used by ships and boats in their commercial voyages.
Al-Mina Stadium will host second-tier matches in Gulf 25, which includes teams from Qatar, Emirates and Kuwait, as well as defending champion Bahrain.
Group matches will kick off on January 7, between defending champions Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates national team.
The draw for the 25th Gulf Cup took place on 25 October 2022 in the city of Basra.
