Yemen to host Gulf Cup in 2011 [Archives:2007/1022/Local News]

SANA'A Feb 2 ) The General Conference of football federation heads in Gulf States, Yemen and Iraq unanimously agreed that Yemen will host the 20th Arabian Gulf Cup tournament.

The head of the Yemeni Football Federation and the country's representative in the conference, Ahmad Al-Eisi, affirmed that representatives of the member states reached a consensus supporting Yemen to host the international tournament, while Iraq will organize the event the following year, in 2012. According to Al-Eisi, the attendees said it is the right of the host country to organize all the games accompanying the football event.

“Prince Sultan Bin Fahd, General Director of Youth Care and Head of Saudi Football Federation backed Yemen's request to host the Gulf Championship. This persuaded other members to welcome Yemen's request, however the Kuwaiti representative demanded that Iraq should host the coming two championships,” said Al-Eisi. A proposal was presented with regard to organizing a championship for the under-21 teams coinciding with that of the senior teams or to be held in another time. The proposal was forwarded to the concerned technical committees for discussion.

Al-Eisi pointed out that Yemen's participation in the 18th Gulf Cup in Abu Dhabi was good and helped improve performance of the Yemeni footballers, whose play shocked fans in and outside the country. “The current football team is thought upon as the best one in Yemen's history. It should be supported to become one of the strongest teams at the regional level and internationally,” Al-Eisi concluded.
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