The Gulf Football Federation is working to expand the scope of participation in the Gulf Cup tournaments over the coming period, bringing in teams from outside the Gulf federations such as Egypt, Morocco, China and Jordan.
Nashat Akram, the former Iraq national team star, raised the first question during his appearance on the programme "Al-Majlis", presented by the media personality Khalid Jassem on Qatar's Al-Kass channels: "First of all, we need to know the reason for expanding the scope of participation. Is the purpose commercial or technical?"
"The teams proposed to take part in the Gulf Cup, such as Egypt and Jordan, will come in order to obtain money, not in order to spend money," he added.
He continued: "We must be realistic and logical. Any team will focus on money and will not look at increasing the value of the tournament from a technical standpoint."
Jamal Mubarak, the former Kuwait player, took the opposite view: "I completely support adding teams from outside the Gulf federations, on the condition that they take part with their main first team."
Omani analyst Ahmed Al-Rawas was less convinced: "I do not agree with expanding the scope of participation. We have the Arab Cup for national teams, and it achieved extraordinary success, whereas the Gulf Cup has a different distinctiveness."
Saudi Arabia national team legend Saeed Al-Owairan agreed. "Expanding participation will create a new Arab tournament. I believe that eight teams is a sufficient number for the Gulf Cup," he stressed.