There have been strong rumours from Doha that Qatar intends to invite Iran and Turkey for the upcoming Gulf Football tournament in Doha.
This tournament of Gulf Cup will be the 24th edition of the biennial football competition for the eight members of the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federations.
On 15 July 2019, the Gulf Cup Football Federation announced that it will be held in Qatar from 27 November to 9 December 2019.[1]
Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain have cut all ties with Qatar since 2017 and that included sporting contacts. The action of the three football federations is forced and dictated by their leaders which subsequently resulted in the 3 boycotting countries athletes missing many events in Qatar in defiance to the spirits of the Olympic spirits and the policy of FIFA in that mandates football to be free from governmental interference.
Sports federations in the Persian Gulf Countries have been indirectly managed, manipulated and bankrolled by their governments and ruling families and as such they strictly follow3s the whims of the rulers.
The Gulf Football Tournament, which was first commenced in Bahrain back in 1971 is the most popular footballing events in the sheikhdoms. It started with 4 countries Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and host Bahrain. The tournament, which is not recognized by FIFA as an official event, has changed format several times and expanded to 8 teams. As anticipated, politics played a major role in the running throughout the years from countries withdrawing during the tournaments or before it to strain relations as a result of football matches not to mentions scandals such as bribing referees to fan violence.
This term, the 24th edition of the tournament is expected to be boycotted by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain, leaving only Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Yemen and host Qatar taking part.
To save the tournament, Qatar has been secretly negotiating with Turkish and Iranian federations to gauge their interest in taking part in the competition. FFIRI has officially denied any such approaches from the Qatari counterpart while it is extremely unlikely that the Turkish National team will take part, considering Turkey is still involved in the European Cup and their clubs are not only involved in the local league but also European Clubs competitions. The is no space in the Turkish football calendar for a tournament such as this.
For Iran, similar difficulties apply however none of the challenges can be measured as the vehement objection to the naming of the tournament which is fakely called “Arabian Gulf Tournament”
Considering that Qatar will accept to change the only possible scenario for Iran is to send Omid Team to the tournament, provided the clubs accept releasing their important players. This possibility, although the best solution will be hard to come by in the midst of the league.