| كأس العرب 2021 Kaʾs al-ʿārab 2021 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Qatar |
| Dates | 30 November – 18 December |
| Teams | 16 (from 2 confederations) |
| Venue | 6 (in 4 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions |  Algeria (1st title) |
| Runners-up |  Tunisia |
| Third place |  Qatar |
| Fourth place |  Egypt |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 32 |
| Goals scored | 83 (2.59 per match) |
| Attendance | 571,605 (17,863 per match) |
| Top scorer | Seifeddine Jaziri(4 goals) |
| Best player | Yacine Brahimi |
| Bestgoalkeeper | Raïs M'Bolhi |
| Fair play award |  Morocco |
←2012 2025 → | |
The2021 FIFA Arab Cup[1] (Arabic:كأس العرب 2021) was the 10th edition of theArab Cup, theArab world's[note 1] national teamfootball tournament;[2][3] it was the first edition underFIFA's jurisdiction,[4] with previous editions having been organized by theUnion of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). It took place between 30 November and 18 December 2021 inQatar as a prelude and test event to the2022 FIFA World Cup, which was also held in Qatar.[3]
The tournament phase involved 16 teams, of which seven came through the qualifying round; all 23 teams competing were under the auspices of either theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) or theConfederation of African Football (CAF). Of the 16 teams, eight had also appeared in the2012 edition; no team made their debut appearance at the Arab Cup. The 32 finals matches were played in six venues, which were also used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[5] Host nationQatar beatEgypt in the third-place match. In thefinal, Algeria played Tunisia on 18 December at theAl Bayt Stadium inAl Khor. Algeria won the match 2–0after extra time to claim their first Arab Cup.
Algerian playerYacine Brahimi was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball. Tunisia'sSeifeddine Jaziri won the Golden Boot as he scored the most goals during the tournament with four. Algeria'sRaïs M'Bolhi won the Golden Glove, awarded to thegoalkeeper with the mostclean sheets. It has been estimated that more than 500,000 people attended games during the tournament. Semi-automatedoffside technology was tested for the first time in this tournament.[6]
Of the 23 participating teams,[7] the top nine teams based on the April 2021FIFA Ranking directly qualified to the group stage, while the remaining 14 teams played seven single-leg matches, with seven teams going through to the group stage.[8] In the group stage, there were four groups of four teams in around-robin format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying to the knockout stage,[9] which consisted of quarter-finals, semi-finals, a play-off for third place, and the final.[10]
The 14 teams in the qualifiers were paired based on their April 2021 FIFA Ranking:[10] the highest-ranked team in the qualifiers,Oman, played against the lowest-ranked team,Somalia.[11]Lebanon, the second-highest ranked team, played againstDjibouti, the second-lowest ranked team, and so on.[11] The teams that won qualification matches 1, 2 and 3 occupied positions 2, 3 and 4 in pot 3, and the remaining teams were placed in pot 4 in order.[10]
South Sudan forfeited their qualifying match due to the high number ofCOVID-19 cases among the South Sudan delegation.[12] TheAlgerian FA decided in July 2020 to send theAlgeria A' (local) team,[13][14][15] however, their final squad included players from other Arab leagues to strengthen the team.[16] TheMoroccan FA also decided to send theMorocco A' (local) team,[17][18] however, they also later strengthened the team with players from other Arab leagues.[19][20] Saudi Arabia participated with theunder-23 team.
Note: Numbers in parentheses indicate positions in theFIFA World Ranking at the time of the draw.[21]
| Directly to the group stage (Ranked 1st to 9th) | Competing in the qualifiers (Ranked 10th to 23rd) |
|---|---|
|
The group stage draw took place on 27 April 2021 at 21:00AST at theKatara Opera House inDoha.[7][11] It was conducted by Manolo Zubiria, FIFA's director of competitions, and four former players:Wael Gomaa (Egypt),Nawaf Al-Temyat (Saudi Arabia),Haitham Mustafa (Sudan) andYounis Mahmoud (Iraq).[22]
The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The draw started with pot 1 and completed with pot 4, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group in the position of their pot (i.e. position 1 for pot 1).
The hostsQatar were automatically seeded into pot 1 and assigned to position A1, while the remaining automatically qualified teams were seeded into their respective pots based on theFIFA World Ranking of April 2021 (shown in parentheses below).Syria, the lowest-ranked team that automatically qualified, were joined in pot 3 by the winners of qualification matches 1 to 3, while pot 4 contained the winners of qualification matches 4 to 7.Algeria, as the winners of the2019 Africa Cup of Nations, were assigned to position D1.[10]
Only 15 players playing in non-Arab leagues were selected in the final 23-man squads: four in Sweden; two in England; one each in Denmark, Greece, Indonesia, Malaysia, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Thailand and the United States.
In October 2021, FIFA nominated 12 referees and 24 assistant referees from all six confederations, three from South America, two from Asia, Africa, North America and Europe, and one referee from Oceania. With the exception of Andrés Mattonte (Uruguay) and Facundo Tello (Argentina), all referees had previously officiated matches in a continental tournament. IranianAlireza Faghani, JapaneseRyuji Sato, GambianBakary Gassama, ZambianJanny Sikazwe and New ZealanderMatthew Conger also participated in the2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[23]
Candidate referees were used at least twice. Iranian referee Alireza Faghani officiated the opening match betweenTunisia andMauritania. Germany'sDaniel Siebert was responsible for thefinal match between Tunisia and Algeria, and he is the most refereed referee for matches in the tournament with four matches.
| Confederation | Referee | Assistant referees | Video assistant referees |
|---|---|---|---|
| AFC | Alireza Faghani (Iran) | Mohammadreza Mansouri (Iran) Mohammadreza Abolfazli (Iran) | Shaun Evans (Australia) Abdulla Al Marri (Qatar) Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan) |
| Ryuji Sato (Japan) | Hiroshi Yamauchi (Japan) Jun Mihara (Japan) | ||
| CAF | Bakary Gassama (Gambia) | Djibril Camara (Senegal) Elvis Noupue (Cameroon) | Rédouane Jiyed (Morocco) Ibrahim Nour El Din (Egypt) |
| Janny Sikazwe (Zambia) | Zakhele Siwela (South Africa) Jerson dos Santos (Angola) | ||
| CONCACAF | Said Martínez (Honduras) | Walter López (Honduras) Christian Ramirez (Honduras) | Adonai Escobedo (Mexico) Fernando Guerrero (Mexico) Jair Marrufo (United States) |
| Fernando Hernández Gómez (Mexico) | Micheal Barwegen (Canada) Karen Diaz Medina (Mexico) | ||
| CONMEBOL | Andrés Matonte (Uruguay) | Martin Soppi (Uruguay) Carlos Barreiro (Uruguay) | Eber Aquino (Paraguay) Leodán González (Uruguay) Rafael Traci (Brazil) Juan Soto (Venezuela) |
| Wilton Sampaio (Brazil) | Danilo Manis (Brazil) Bruno Pires (Brazil) | ||
| Facundo Tello (Argentina) | Ezequiel Brailovsky (Argentina) Gabriel Chade (Argentina) | ||
| OFC | Matthew Conger (New Zealand) | Tevita Makasini (Tonga) Bernard Mutukera (Solomon Islands) | |
| UEFA | Szymon Marciniak (Poland) | Paweł Sokolnicki (Poland) Tomasz Listkiewicz (Poland) | Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland) Guillermo Cuadra Fernández (Spain) Christian Dingert (Germany) Fabio Maresca (Italy) |
| Daniel Siebert (Germany) | Rafael Foltyn (Germany) Christian Gittelmann (Germany) |
| Al Khor | Al Rayyan (Doha Area) | Location of the host cities of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Bayt Stadium | Ahmad bin Ali Stadium | Education City Stadium | ||
| Capacity:68,895[24] | Capacity:45,032[25] | Capacity:44,667[26] | ||
 |  | _crop.jpg) | ||
| Doha | Al Wakrah | Stadiums of the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup in the Doha Area. | ||
| Al Thumama Stadium | Stadium 974 | Al Janoub Stadium | ||
| Capacity:44,400[27] | Capacity:44,089[28] | Capacity:44,325[29] | ||
.jpg) |  |  | ||
The 14 lowest-ranked teams in theFIFA World Ranking met between 19 and 25 June 2021 in a single knockout match. The best-ranked team met the lowest ranked team, the second-best played the second-lowest, and so on.
The match betweenJordan and their opponentsSouth Sudan was canceled, due to cases of COVID-19 infection for eight South Sudanese players. FIFA awarded a 3–0 victory in favor of Jordan.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
Libya  | 0–1 |  Sudan |
Oman  | 2–1 |  Somalia |
Jordan  | w/o |  South Sudan |
Mauritania  | 2–0 |  Yemen |
Lebanon  | 1–0 |  Djibouti |
Palestine  | 5–1 |  Comoros |
Bahrain  | 2–0 |  Kuwait |
All times are local,AST (UTC+3).
| Libya | 0–1 | Sudan |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Oman | 2–1 | Somalia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Mauritania | 2–0 | Yemen |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
Of the 23 participating teams, the top nine teams based on the April 2021FIFA World Ranking qualified directly to the group stage, while the remaining 14 teams played seven qualifying matches, of which seven qualified for the next stage. In the group stage, the teams were divided into four groups of four, with the two best teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined as follows:[30]
Theknockout stage included all stages from the quarter-finals to thefinal match. The winner of each match advances to the next stage and the loser is eliminated. The losing teams of the semi-finals played the match for third place. In the final match, the winner got the Arab Cup. In all final cases, if the match ends in a tie, thenextra time will be played. If the score is still equal after extra time, it is decided by apenalty shoot-out.
All times are local,AST (UTC+3).[31]
| Match | Dates |
|---|---|
| Group stage | |
| Matchday 1 | 30 November – 1 December 2021 |
| Matchday 2 | 3–4 December 2021 |
| Matchday 3 | 6–7 December 2021 |
| Knockout stage | |
| Quarter-finals | 10 December – 11 December 2021 |
| Semi-finals | 15 December 2021 |
| Third place play-off | 18 December 2021 |
| Final | 18 December 2021 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qatar(H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Oman | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 | |
| 3 |  Iraq | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 | |
| 4 | Bahrain | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 1 |
| Iraq | 1–1 | Oman |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Oman | 3–0 | Bahrain |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tunisia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 |  United Arab Emirates | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 |  Syria | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | |
| 4 | Mauritania | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 9 | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Jordan | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | |
| 3 |  Saudi Arabia | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 | |
| 4 | Palestine | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 1 |
| Morocco | 1–0 | Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Jordan | 5–1 | Palestine |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7[a] | Advance toknockout stage |
| 2 | Algeria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 7[a] | |
| 3 | Lebanon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 | |
| 4 | Sudan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 |
Theknockout stage was the second and final stage of the tournament, after the group stage. It started on 10 December with the quarter-finals and ended on 18 December following thefinal match that was held atAl Bayt Stadium inAl Khor. The best two teams from each group (8 in total) advanced to the knockout stage to compete in asingles-elimination tournament. A match for third place was played between the two losing teams in the semi-finals.
If the match was tied at the end of the original playing time, two halves ofextra time was played (15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by apenalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Below is an arc for the knockout stage of the tournament. Teams in bold indicate the winners of the match.
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 10 December –Al Rayyan (ECS) | ||||||||||
| Tunisia | 2 | |||||||||
| 15 December –Doha (S974) | ||||||||||
| Oman | 1 | |||||||||
| Tunisia | 1 | |||||||||
| 11 December –Al Wakrah | ||||||||||
| Egypt | 0 | |||||||||
| Egypt(a.e.t.) | 3 | |||||||||
| 18 December –Al Khor | ||||||||||
| Jordan | 1 | |||||||||
| Tunisia | 0 | |||||||||
| 10 December –Al Khor | ||||||||||
| Algeria(a.e.t.) | 2 | |||||||||
| Qatar | 5 | |||||||||
| 15 December –Doha (ATS) | ||||||||||
| United Arab Emirates | 0 | |||||||||
| Qatar | 1 | |||||||||
| 11 December –Doha (ATS) | ||||||||||
| Algeria | 2 | Third place play-off | ||||||||
| Morocco | 2 (3) | |||||||||
| 18 December –Doha (S974) | ||||||||||
| Algeria(p) | 2 (5) | |||||||||
| Egypt | 0 (4) | |||||||||
| Qatar(p) | 0 (5) | |||||||||
There were 83 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 2.59 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Tayeb MezianiAmir SayoudHillal SoudaniMohamed Amine TougaiMarwan DawoudAmr El SoliaHussein FaisalMahmoud "El Wensh" HamdyMarwan HamdyMohamed "Afsha" MagdyAhmed "Zizo" SayedMohamed SherifHasan AbdulkareemBaha' Abdel-RahmanHamza Al-DardourMahmoud Al-MardiAbdullah Al-HamdanBessamMouhamed SoueidHemeya TanjyKarim El BerkaouiMohamed ChibiYahya JabraneSoufiane RahimiRabia Al-AlawiSalaah Al-YahyaeiMohammed RashidTamer SeyamHassan Al-HaydosBoualem KhoukhiMohammed MuntariMouhamad AnezMahmoud Al BaherOliver Kass KawoWard AlslamhCaio CanedoKhalil IbrahimAli Saleh1 own goal
Amr El Solia (against Tunisia)Khalifah Al-Dawsari (against Jordan)Fahmi Durbin (against Qatar)Ali Abu Eshrein (against Lebanon)Ali Salmeen (against Qatar)Source: FIFA
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[32]
| Golden Ball | Silver Ball | Bronze Ball |
|---|---|---|
| Yacine Brahimi | Youcef Belaïli | Akram Afif |
| Golden Boot | Silver Boot | Bronze Boot |
| Seifeddine Jaziri 4 goals, 0 assists 511 minutes played | Yacine Brahimi 3 goals, 1 assist 507 minutes played | Yazan Al-Naimat 3 goals, 0 assists 166 minutes played |
| Golden Glove | ||
| Raïs M'Bolhi | ||
| FIFA Fair Play Award | ||
| Morocco | ||
The Team of the Tournament is as follows:[33]
| Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raïs M'Bolhi | Ahmed FatouhDjamel BenlamriBadr BenounMohamed Chibi | Youssef MsakniAbdulaziz HatemYacine Brahimi | Youcef BelaïliSeifeddine JaziriAkram Afif |
The final ranking of the tournament is reported below.[34]
| R | Team | G | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Algeria | D | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 14 |
| 2 | Tunisia | B | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 6 | +3 | 12 |
| 3 | Qatar | A | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 3 | +9 | 13 |
| 4 | Egypt | D | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 11 |
| Eliminated in the quarter-finals | ||||||||||
| 5 | Morocco | C | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | +9 | 10 |
| 6 | Jordan | C | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 6 |
| 7 | United Arab Emirates | B | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 6 |
| 8 | Oman | A | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 4 |
| Eliminated in the group stage | ||||||||||
| 9 | Syria | B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Lebanon | D | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 3 |
| 11 | Mauritania | B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 3 |
| 12 | Iraq | A | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 2 |
| 13 | Saudi Arabia | C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |
| 14 | Bahrain | A | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 1 |
| 15 | Palestine | C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 1 |
| 16 | Sudan | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 |
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided inextra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided bypenalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
| Country/Region | Broadcaster | Ref. |
|---|---|---|
 Australia | Special Broadcasting Service | [35] |
 Indonesia | MNC Vision, K-Vision | [citation needed] |
 Malaysia | Astro SuperSport | [citation needed] |
| Qatar | beIN Sports | [36] |
| Alkass | [37] | |
 South Korea | SBS Sports | [38] |
 United States | Fox Sports[39] Telemundo Deportes (final match only) | [citation needed] |
 World | FIFATV (YouTube) | [citation needed] |
| FIFA partners | FIFA Arab Cup sponsors | Regional supporters |
|---|---|---|
