Yemen will not participate in qualifiers of 7th Arab Football Cup A chance they got, but lost [Archives:1998/12/Sports]

The Yemen Football Federation decided not to participate in the qualifier matches for the 7th Arab Football Cup. The matches are scheduled for September 22-30 in Qatar. Yemen was chosen by a draw to be in the second group that includes Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan. Given that Saudi Arabia has qualified for the 1998 World Cup finals in France, it automatically becomes qualified for the finals of the Arab championship, as stipulated in the regulations of such championships.

Therefore, only Yemen, Egypt and Sudan remained in this group. As the Egyptian team is the former winner of the Arab Cup Championship, it has also been qualified for the finals of the championship. Thus, only two teams are left in the group, Yemen and Sudan.
The Arab Football Federation agreed to hold two matches between Yemen and Sudan. The first match is to be held on June 15, 1998 in Khartoum and the second on July 29, 1998 in Sanaa. These matches will determine the qualifying team. The decision of the Federation not to participate in the qualifying matches made the Yemeni national team lose a valuable chance, especially since the second group consists only of Yemen and Sudan.

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