The Gulf Football Tournaments in the past 25 editions presented distinguished international players, and led many of them to become professional and play in European and Asian leagues, and they were able to excel during them, which contributed to enhancing the technical status of the Gulf Tournaments at the global level, despite it being a regional tournament that received only moral support. From the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).
It is expected that players coming from European leagues will participate in the “Gulf 26” tournament to represent their countries’ teams, such as Iraqi Ali Jassim, and others.
The Saudi national team leads in terms of the number of players who have played professionally in European clubs, after participating in the Gulf tournaments, with about 15 players, including Fahd Al-Ghashian in the Dutch League with the Alkmaar team, and Fahd Al-Harifi, who played for a short period with the Greek team Asteras Tripolis, while Muhammad Salah Al-Din played. Bakhit in the French League in the 1990s, in addition to Sami Al-Jaber, who played professionally for a short period in Wolverhampton in England, and Hussein Abdel-Ghani in Neuchatel in Switzerland, as well as Osama. Hawsawi, and others, while Saud Abdul Hamid currently plays for the Italian club Roma.
Omani stature
The former Sultanate of Oman national team goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi, is considered the most prominent player presented by the Gulf Tournaments, when he played many seasons in the English Premier League with the clubs Bolton Wanderers, Wigan Athletic, Brighton, and Reading. He was the most prominent Arab in the English Premier League, before distinguished Arab players joined, Among them are the Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, Amr Zaki, and Mohamed Elneny. Al Habsi is the first Gulf goalkeeper to play in the English Premier League, and he won the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic in 2013.
“Lions of Mesopotamia”
The Iraqi national team players, Hawar Mulla Muhammad, who played professionally in the Cypriot league, Nashat Akram in the Dutch league, Ali Adnan in the Italian league, and Bassem Abbas in the Swiss team Lucerne, are considered the most prominent stations of the “Lions of Mesopotamia” players who played in the Gulf football tournaments and moved on to play. In Europe.
Emirati experiences
The experience of UAE players playing professionally in European leagues was limited to former Al Shaab Club players, Rashid Abdel Rahman, Mohamed Sorour and Faisal Khalil in the Swiss League, while there were attempts for Omar Abdel Rahman to become a professional in the English League, but they were not successful.
Qatar and Kuwait
Qatar national team player Abdulaziz Hatem had a short experience with the Spanish team Real Oviedo, and Kuwaiti Bader Al-Mutawa trained with the Spanish team Malaga, but he did not participate in any official match. Al-Mutawa played a short period in Belgium with Beerschot, but he did not last long.
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