UAE drawn along with Bahrain, Qatar for Gulf Cup

The tournament is scheduled to be held from January 6 to 19 across three venues in Basra, Iraq

James Jose

Published: Tue 25 Oct 2022, 8:16 PM

Last updated: Tue 25 Oct 2022, 9:45 PM

UAE coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena said there are no weak and strong teams in football and added that they will approach every match in the same manner.

The draw for the 2023 Gulf Cup was held in Basra, Iraq, the hosts for the tournament, and the UAE were drawn alongside defending champions Bahrain, Asian Cup winners Qatar and Kuwait in Group B. Group A consists of Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Yemen. The tournament is scheduled to be held from January 6 to 19 across three venues in Basra — Basra International Stadium, Al-Minaa Olympic Stadium and Al-Fayhaa Stadium.

The UAE, who had won the Gulf Cup twice in 2007 and 2013, take on Bahrain in their opening game on January 7.

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The draw for the 2023 Gulf Cup was held in Basra, Iraq. — UAE FA Twitter

“We respect all the teams,” Arruabarrena said.

“All the teams have the desire and the ambition to compete for the title, regardless of their history in the tournament or the position they now occupy in the international classification. There is no weak or strong team. Every team will be in Iraq to compete for the title, so we will deal with all matches with the same importance and care to ensure that we can all the way to the final of the tournament,“ he added.

The UAE, who had finished runners-up on four occasions — 1986, 1988, 1994 and 2018 — are scheduled to hold a camp in Abu Dhabi next month during which they will play friendlies against World Cup-bound Argentina and Kazakhstan. The UAE face Argentina on November 16 and Kazakhstan on November 19.

They will then undergo a 10-day training camp in late December in the run-up to the Gulf Cup.