2025 FIFA Arab Cup

2025 FIFA Arab Cup

كأس العرب 2025 Kaʾs al-ʿārab 2025
Tournament details
Host country	Qatar
Dates	1–18 December
Teams	16 (from 2 confederations)
Venue	6 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Morocco (2nd title)
Runners-up	Jordan
Third place	Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates[note 1]
Tournament statistics
Matches played	32
Goals scored	77 (2.41 per match)
Attendance	1,236,600 (38,644 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ali Olwan (6 goals)
Best player	Mohamed Rabie Hrimat
Best goalkeeper	Mehdi Benabid
Fair play award	Syria
← 2021 2029 →

The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup (Arabic: كأس العرب 2025) was the 11th edition of the Arab Cup,^[1] the Arab world's national team football tournament. It was the second edition under FIFA's jurisdiction, with previous editions having been organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The tournament took place in Qatar from 1 to 18 December 2025. This was the third time that Qatar hosted the competition, following the 1998 and 2021 editions.^[2][3]

In the final, Morocco played Jordan on 18 December at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail. Morocco won the match 3–2 after extra time to claim their second Arab Cup.

Of the 23 participating teams,^[4] the host nation Qatar, the title holders Algeria, and the remaining seven highest-ranked teams based on the April 2025 FIFA Ranking automatically qualified for the group stage. The remaining 14 teams played seven single-leg qualification matches, with the seven winners advancing to the group stage.^[5] In the group stage, there were four groups of four teams in a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the knockout stage,^[4] which consisted of quarter-finals, semi-finals, a play-off for third place, and the final.

The 14 teams in the qualifiers were paired based on their April 2025 FIFA Ranking and consist of the seven lowest-ranked teams from both the AFC and the CAF. The highest-ranked AFC team played the lowest-ranked CAF team, the second-highest-ranked AFC team played the second-lowest-ranked CAF team, and so forth, creating seven inter-confederation matchups. The winners of qualification matches 1, 2, and 3 occupied positions 2, 3, and 4 in Pot 3 for the final tournament draw, while the winners of the remaining four matches were placed in Pot 4 in order.^[5]

Note: Parentheses show FIFA World Ranking (at the time of the draw) and confederation.^[6]

From the April 2025 FIFA World Ranking^[6]

Directly to the group stage (Ranked 1st to 9th)	Competing in the qualifiers (Ranked 10th to 23rd)
Qatar (55; AFC) (H)  Algeria (36; CAF) (TH)  Morocco (12; CAF)  Egypt (32; CAF)  Tunisia (49; CAF)  Saudi Arabia (58; AFC)  Iraq (59; AFC)  Jordan (62; AFC)  United Arab Emirates (65; AFC)	Oman (77; AFC)  Bahrain (84; AFC)  Syria (93; AFC)  Palestine (101; AFC)  Comoros (105; CAF)  Mauritania (110; CAF)  Lebanon (112; AFC)  Sudan (114; CAF)  Libya (117; CAF)  Kuwait (134; AFC)  Yemen (158; AFC)  South Sudan (170; CAF)  Djibouti (192; CAF)  Somalia (201; CAF)

The group stage draw took place on 25 May 2025 at 20:00 AST (UTC+3) in at the Raffles Hotel in Doha, Qatar.^[7] It was conducted by Jaime Yarza, FIFA's director of tournaments, and four current and former players: Hassan Al-Haydos (Qatar), Rabah Madjer (Algeria), Yasser Al-Qahtani (Saudi Arabia), and Wael Gomaa (Egypt).^[8]

The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The draw started with Pot 1 and ended with Pot 4, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group in the position of their Pot (i.e. position 1 for Pot 1).^[5]

The hosts, Qatar, and the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup champions, Algeria, were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1 and D1, respectively. The remaining automatically qualified teams were seeded into their respective Pots based on the FIFA World Ranking of April 2025 (shown below). The United Arab Emirates, the lowest-ranked team that automatically qualified, were joined in Pot 3 by the winners of qualification matches 1 to 3, while Pot 4 contained the winners of qualification matches 4 to 7.^[5]

Pot 1 Team Rank  Qatar (H) 55  Algeria (TH) 36  Morocco 12  Egypt 32

Pot 2 Team Rank  Tunisia 49  Saudi Arabia 58  Iraq 59  Jordan 62

Pot 3 Team Rank  United Arab Emirates 65  Oman (qualification winner 1) 79  Bahrain (qualification winner 2) 91  Syria (qualification winner 3) 87

Pot 4 Team Rank  Palestine (qualification winner 4) 96  Sudan (qualification winner 5) 118  Kuwait (qualification winner 6) 135  Comoros (qualification winner 7) 108

The 16 national teams involved in the tournament were required to register a squad of 23 players, including three goalkeepers.^[9] Only players in these squads were eligible to take part in the tournament. The position listed for each player is per the official squad list published by FIFA on 21 November 2025.^[10] The age listed for each player is on 1 December 2025, the first day of the tournament.

On 14 October 2025, FIFA appointed 54 match officials from 23 member associations for the tournament. This included 14 referees, 28 assistant referees, and 12 video match officials.^[11][12]

Confederation	Referee	Assistant referees	Video assistant referee
AFC	Abdulrahman Al-Jassim	Taleb Al-Marri Saud Al-Maqaleh	Abdullah Al-Shehri Khamis Al-Marri Jumpei Iida Sivakorn Pu-udom
	Ahmed Al-Kaf	Abu Bakr Al-Amri Rashid Al-Ghaiti
	Ma Ning	Zhou Fei Zhang Cheng
	Adham Makhadmeh	Mohammad Al-Kalaf Ahmad Al-Roalle
CAF	Pierre Atcho	Boris Ditsoga Amos Abeigne Ndong	Lahlou Benbraham
	Amin Omar	Mahmoud Abouregal Ahmed Ali
CONCACAF	Juan Calderón	Juan Carlos Mora William Arrieta	Allen Chapman Benjamin Pineda
	Ismail Elfath	Corey Parker Kyle Atkins
	Mario Escobar	Luis Ventura Humberto Panjoj
CONMEBOL	Juan Gabriel Benítez	Eduardo Cardozo Milcíades Saldívar	Antonio Garcia Noni Rodolpho Toski
	Cristián Garay	Claudio Urrutia José Retamal
OFC	Campbell-Kirk Kawana-Waugh	Isaac Trevis Edward Cook
UEFA	Espen Eskås	Jan Erik Engan Isaak Bashevkin	Jarred Gillett Dennis Higler Fedayi San
	Glenn Nyberg	Mahbod Beigi Andreas Söderkvist

On 24 May 2025, the organising committee announced the six venues that would host the tournament, all of which were used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.^[13] Similarly to the aforementioned competition, Al Bayt Stadium hosted the opening game, with Lusail Stadium set to host the final.

Al Khor	Lusail (Doha Area)	Doha	Al Khor Lusail Doha Al Rayyan Location of the host cities of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup.
Al Bayt Stadium	Lusail Stadium	Stadium 974
Capacity: 68,895	Capacity: 88,966	Capacity: 44,089
Al Rayyan (Doha Area)			Education City Khalifa International 974 Stadiums of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup in the Doha Area.
Ahmad bin Ali Stadium	Education City Stadium	Khalifa International Stadium
Capacity: 45,032	Capacity: 44,667	Capacity: 45,857

The 14 lowest-ranked teams in the April 2025 FIFA World Ranking met on 25 and 26 November in a single knockout match.^[8] The best-ranked AFC team met the lowest-ranked CAF team, the second-best AFC team played the second-lowest CAF team, and so on.^[5]

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Mauritania	0–2	Kuwait
Syria	2–0	South Sudan
Palestine	0–0 (4–3 p)	Libya
Oman	0–0 (4–1 p)	Somalia
Bahrain	1–0	Djibouti
Sudan	2–1	Lebanon
Comoros	4–4 (4–2 p)	Yemen

Of the 23 participating teams, the top nine teams based on the April 2025 FIFA World Ranking qualified directly to the group stage, while the remaining 14 teams played seven qualifying matches, of which seven qualified for the next stage. In the group stage, the teams were divided into four groups of four, with the two best teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:^[14]

1. Points obtained in all group matches (three for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat);
2. Points obtained in matches between the teams concerned;
3. Goal difference in matches between the teams concerned;
4. Goals scored in matches between the teams concerned;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player per match):
   • Yellow card: −1 point;
   • Indirect red card (second yellow): −3 points;
   • Direct red card: −4 points;
   • Yellow card and direct red card: −5 points;
8. Latest FIFA Men's World Ranking.

The knockout stage included all stages from the quarter-finals to the final match. The winner of each match advanced to the next stage and the loser was eliminated. The losing teams of the semi-finals played the match for third place. In the final match, the winner lifted the Arab Cup. In all final cases, if the match ended in a tie, then extra time was played. If the score was still level after extra time, it was decided by a penalty shoot-out.^[15]

All times are local, AST (UTC+3).^[16]

Match	Dates
Group stage
Matchday 1	1–3 December 2025
Matchday 2	4–6 December 2025
Matchday 3	7–9 December 2025
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals	11–12 December 2025
Semi-finals	15 December 2025
Third place play-off	18 December 2025
Final	18 December 2025

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Palestine	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Syria	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
3	Tunisia	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
4	Qatar (H)	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	Oman	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Comoros	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Jordan	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	United Arab Emirates	3	1	1	1	5	4	+1	4
3	Egypt	3	0	2	1	2	5	−3	2
4	Kuwait	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

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Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria	3	2	1	0	7	1	+6	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Iraq	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Bahrain	3	1	0	2	5	8	−3	3
4	Sudan	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1

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The knockout stage was the second and final stage of the tournament, after the group stage. It began on 11 December with the quarter-finals and ended on 18 December following the final match that was held at Lusail Stadium in Lusail. The best two teams from each group (8 in total) advanced to the knockout stage to compete in a singles-elimination tournament. A match for third place was scheduled to be played between the two losing teams in the semi-finals.

If the match was level at the end of the original playing time, two halves of extra time were played (15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Below is an arc for the knockout stage of the tournament. Teams in bold indicate the winners of the match.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	11 December – Lusail
	Palestine	1
					15 December – Al Khor
	Saudi Arabia (a.e.t.)	2
					Saudi Arabia	0
	12 December – Al Rayyan (ECS)
					Jordan	1
	Jordan	1
									18 December – Lusail
	Iraq	0
									Jordan	2
	11 December – Al Rayyan (KIS)
									Morocco (a.e.t.)	3
	Morocco	1
					15 December – Al Rayyan (KIS)
	Syria	0
					Morocco	3
	12 December – Al Khor
					United Arab Emirates	0			Third place play-off
	Algeria	1 (6)
									18 December – Al Rayyan (KIS)
	United Arab Emirates (p)	1 (7)
									Saudi Arabia	—
									United Arab Emirates	—

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There were 77 goals scored in 31 matches, for an average of 2.48 goals per match.

6 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament. They were all sponsored by Adidas, except for the FIFA Fair Play Trophy.^[19]

Golden Ball
Mohamed Rabie Hrimat
Golden Boot
Ali Olwan (6 goals)
Golden Glove
Mehdi Benabid
FIFA Fair Play Award
Syria

The final ranking of the tournament is reported below.^[20]

R	Team	G	P	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	Morocco	B	6	5	1	0	11	3	+8	16
2	Jordan	C	6	5	0	1	12	5	+7	15
3	Saudi Arabia	B	5	3	0	2	7	5	+2	9
	United Arab Emirates	C	5	1	2	2	6	8	–2	5
Eliminated in the quarter-finals
5	Algeria	D	4	2	2	0	8	2	+6	8
6	Iraq	D	4	2	0	2	4	4	0	6
7	Palestine	A	4	1	2	1	4	4	0	5
8	Syria	A	4	1	2	1	2	2	0	5
Eliminated in the group stage
9	Tunisia	A	3	1	1	1	5	3	+2	4
10	Oman	B	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
11	Bahrain	D	3	1	0	2	5	8	−3	3
12	Egypt	C	3	0	2	1	2	5	−3	2
13	Kuwait	C	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1
14	Qatar	A	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1
15	Sudan	D	3	0	1	2	1	5	−4	1
16	Comoros	B	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5	0

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

The official mascot of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup was based on the folk character Juha.^[21]

Country/Region	Broadcaster	Ref.
Qatar	beIN Sports	[22]
	Alkass	[22]
Kuwait	Shasha
	Kuwait TV (Sport channel)	[22]
United Arab Emirates	AD Sports	[22]
	Dubai Sports	[23]
Algeria	EPTV
Oman	Oman Sports TV	[24]
Saudi Arabia	MBC 1	[25]
	KSA Sport (Only Saudi Arabian team)[26]	[27][28]
World	Alkass (Live streaming via YouTube)

FIFA Arab Cup sponsors	Regional supporters
Adidas Coca-Cola Jetour Qatar Airways Visit Qatar	Alkass Sports Channels Aspetar Media City Qatar Qatar International Islamic Bank Vodafone

• Official website