21st Arabian Gulf Cup

The 21st Arabian Gulf Cup (كأس الخليج العربي) was the twenty-first edition of the biennial football competition. It took place in Bahrain in January 2013. The competition was originally scheduled to be hosted in the city of Basra, Iraq, but was moved to Bahrain in October 2011 to ensure that Iraq could suitably host the competition in the 22nd edition.

Seeding of teams
The eight participating teams were divided into two groups, Bahrain (the host nation) were placed in Group A, Kuwait (the holder) in Group B, while the rest of the teams were placed in a pot based on FIFA rankings. The draw was held in Bahrain on 18 October 2012.

Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 21st Arabian Gulf Cup took place in the Bahrain National Stadium on 5 January. The event featured the attendance of Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, members of the ruling family, Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, Michel Platini, the president of UEFA as well as other officials. Blatter commended the ceremony, stating that "The opening ceremony was very nice: 9.5 out of 10 because perfection does not exist". Following the ceremony, Blatter also stated that the organisational level of the Gulf Cup would have to be improved if it was to be a FIFA-sanctioned event and wanted the cup to be played simultaneously with the Africa Cup of Nations.

Group stage
All times are local time (UTC+03:00).

Goalscorers

 * 3 goals


 * Abdulhadi Khamis
 * Ahmed Khalil


 * 2 goals


 * 🇮🇶 Hammadi Ahmad
 * 🇮🇶 Younis Mahmoud
 * Bader Al-Mutawa
 * Yousef Nasser
 * 🇶🇦 Khalfan Ibrahim
 * Omar Abdulrahman
 * Ali Mabkhout


 * 1 goal


 * 🇧🇭 Faouzi Mubarak Aaish
 * 🇧🇭 Hussain Ali Baba
 * 🇧🇭 Abdulwahab Al Malood
 * 🇧🇭 Abdulla Yusuf Helal
 * 🇮🇶 Dhurgham Ismail
 * 🇮🇶 Salam Shaker
 * Abdulrahman Bani
 * Abdulaziz Al Salimi
 * Ismail Al Hammadi
 * Majed Hassan
 * Mohamed Ahmed Gharib
 * Fahad Al-Muwallad
 * Yasser Al-Qahtani
 * Hussain Al-Hadhri
 * 🇶🇦 Mohamed El-Sayed


 * 1 own goal
 * Osama Hawsawi (playing against Iraq)

Team statistics
This table shows all team performance.

Prize money
The football associations were given prize money for a fourth place and above finish in the competition in riyals.


 * First Place: 2,000,000 Riyals
 * Second Place: 1,500,000 Riyals
 * Third Place: 500,000 Riyals
 * Fourth Place: 250,000 Riyals

Playing awards
The following awards were given: