BAGHDAD, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup 2023 kicked off on Friday in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani announced at the opening ceremony the start of the Gulf championship, saying the ceremony bears connotations of "fraternity between the Gulf Arab brothers."
The opening match between Iraq and Oman ended in a draw without goals after the opening ceremony. The Iraqi national team is in Group A alongside Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, while the second group includes the soccer teams of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar hosted the 24th edition of the tournament in 2019, which was suspended thereafter due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament, founded in 1970, returned to Iraq for the first time after the Iraqi capital Baghdad hosted its 5th edition in 1979.
Iraqi football teams had been prevented from playing at home since the Iraqi invasion of neighboring Kuwait in 1990 for security reasons. The ban continued in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and led to years of chaos.
The ban was briefly lifted in 2018 for friendly matches in Iraq's southern city of Basra and Erbil, the capital of Iraq's semi-autonomous region, as well as in Karbala in the south of Baghdad. But the ban was reinstated after protests spread the country in 2019, pending an improvement in the situation.
On Feb. 27, 2022, Iraq announced that FIFA had lifted the ban on matches in the country, but the resolution was not implemented due to concerns about Iraq's ability to host an important international event after decades of wars and conflicts.
Iraq hopes the ongoing Gulf Cup will be an opportunity to show the country's return to regional activities.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and heads of football federations in the Gulf countries participated in the ceremony. ■
