The Arab Cup is a tournament competed by men’s national teams from the Arab world. The first edition of the tournament was in 1963. After the 1966 competition, it was halted (and replaced by the Palestine Cup) for 19 years before returning in 1985. The last edition was in 2012. The tournament will be returning this year (it’s 10th edition) and will be organized by FIFA. The 2021 edition will be the first one to be organized by the football governing body, hence, the name FIFA Arab Cup.
The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup will take place between the 30th of November to the 18th of December 2021. Qatar will be the hosts. It will serve as a preparatory tournament for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to test Qatar’s readiness for the global event next year.
Sixteen(16) teams will compete at the competition in four groups that comprises of four teams each. The top two teams from each group will advance to the quarterfinals.
The Groups are:
GROUP A
QATAR
IRAQ
OMAN OR SOMALIA
BAHRAIN OR KUWAIT
GROUP B
TUNISIA
SYRIA
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
MAURITANIA OR YEMEN
GROUP C
MOROCCO
SAUDI ARABIA
JORDAN OR SOUTH SUDAN
PALESTINE OR COMOROS
GROUP D
ALGERIA
EGYPT
LEBANON OR DJIBOUTI
LIBYA OR SUDAN.
The tournament will be played in six venues across four Qatari cities. The venues are among the eight venues that will host the FIFA World Cup next year.
Four of the six venues have been confirmed as at the time of writing this article, they are:
Khalifa International Stadium,
Ahmed bin Ali Stadium,
Al Janoub Stadium, and
Education City Stadium.
The most successful team in the history of the Arab Cup is Iraq (with four titles), while Morocco are the current defending champion, having won the last edition in 2012.
Who Are The Favourites in The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup?
The three biggest favourites to win the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup are Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt. Algeria are huge favourites, as they are the current AFCON champions. While Morocco and Egypt boost of some of the most in-form players. Hosts, Qatar and Iraq are also team to watch at the tournament.
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