The Gulf Football Association announced on Sunday that the second edition of the Gulf Cup for Veteran Players will be held during the period from October 30 to November 5, 2026 in Qatar.
The tournament witnesses the participation of a group of the most prominent football stars and legends from the eight Gulf federations. 15 matches will be held in 3 stadiums: Grand Hamad Stadium, Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium, and Saud Bin Abdul Rahman Stadium.
The draw for the tournament resulted in the Iraqi team, the defending champion, falling into the first group alongside the teams of Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait, while the second group includes the Qatari team, representing the host country, along with the teams of the Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen.
The tournament matches will be held in two halves, each lasting 20 minutes, with an unlimited number of substitutions allowed. If any of the knockout round matches end in a draw after 40 minutes, penalty kicks will be resorted directly to determine the winning team.
The championship competitions will begin on Friday, October 30, at the Grand Hamad Stadium, with a match between the Qatari team and its brother, the Bahraini team, while the final match will be held on Thursday, November 5, at the Saud bin Abdul Rahman Stadium.
The “Gulf Cup for Veterans Qatar 2026” matches will be played during the rest days of the “Gulf Cup Under-17 2026” tournament, which Qatar will host during the period from October 16 to November 4.
The football season in Qatar is also full of a number of anticipated tournaments, most notably the “U-17 World Cup Qatar 2026”, which will be held during the period from November 19 to December 13, at the competitions complex in Aspire Zone.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the Gulf Football Association and President of the Qatar Football Association, is undergoing a series of medical examinations and analyzes after he was exposed yesterday, Saturday, to an emergency health crisis described as minor.
Sheikh Hamad is currently under medical care, waiting to complete the necessary tests and check on his health condition.
This comes with the start of the Gulf Cup for Under-17 Football, hosted by Qatar, where Friday’s matches witnessed the loss of the Qatari team, the host of the land, to its Chinese counterpart with two goals to none, while the Emirati team defeated Bahrain by two goals to one.
The opening round, which took place on Saturday, witnessed the Egyptian team defeating its Saudi counterpart with five goals to no return, while the Yemeni team beat its Iraqi counterpart with two unanswered goals.
The Saudi national team is scheduled to meet its Yemeni counterpart in the second round at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium, while the Egyptian national team will face its Kuwaiti counterpart at Saud bin Abdul Rahman Stadium.
The Egyptian team defeated its Saudi counterpart 5-0, and the Yemeni team defeated its Iraqi counterpart 2-0, in the Gulf Cup Under-17 Football Championship held in Qatar.
At the Grand Hamad Stadium, the Egyptian national team scored five goals during the second half, earning the first three points in its campaign in the second group competitions.
After the first half ended in a goalless draw, Mohamed Gamal opened the scoring for the Egyptian team with a penalty kick in the 54th minute, and Ziad Seoudi added the second goal in the 80th minute with a shot from inside the penalty area.
Ahmed Safwat scored the third goal in the 85th minute with a shot from the edge of the area, before Khaled Mahmoud and Ahmed Bashir added the fourth and fifth goals in the sixth and eighth minutes of stoppage time for the match, respectively.
In the other match, the Yemeni team settled its confrontation with its Iraqi counterpart with two goals scored by Ali Farea and Muhammad Sadiq in the 26th and 49th minutes, to score three points.
The Saudi national team will meet its Yemeni counterpart at Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium in the second round, while the Egyptian national team will face its Kuwaiti counterpart at Saud bin Abdul Rahman Stadium.
