10 teams in the Gulf U-15 Championship... with participation from Egypt and China

The Gulf Football Union announced the list of national teams participating in the second edition of the Gulf Cup for Under-17 national teams, which will be hosted by Qatar from November 16 to November 4, with 10 teams taking part in the largest participation in the tournament’s history. The new edition features the national teams of the member federations of the Gulf Football Union: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, and Yemen, along with the national teams of Egypt and China.

The tournament draw ceremony is scheduled for today, Thursday, at 12:00 PM Doha time, at the headquarters of the Gulf Football Union via video conferencing, during which the groups and competition path will be determined.

The draw mechanism relies on distributing the participating teams across five pots, based on the rankings from the last tournament organized by the Gulf Football Union for the same age category. The Competitions Committee may determine the pots as it deems appropriate prior to the draw, particularly if new teams are participating for the first time, with two teams in each pot.

Pot 1 includes Qatar and Saudi Arabia; Pot 2 includes the United Arab Emirates and Iraq; Pot 3 includes Kuwait and Oman; Pot 4 includes Yemen and Bahrain; and Pot 5 includes Egypt and China.

According to the competition regulations, the participating teams will be divided into two groups of five teams each. The host nation, Qatar, will top Group 1, while the defending champions, Saudi Arabia, will top Group 2. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals, which will be played on a knockout basis. The winner of Group 1 will face the runner-up of Group 2, and the winner of Group 2 will face the runner-up of Group 1.