FIFA Arab Cup 2025: Qatar's emergence as world-class hosts shines a bright spotlight on the regional showpiece

The exploration of organising a regional tournament that encompasses the Arab region began as early as in 1957. But the first edition of an Arab Cup was held only in 1963, with just five teams participating in the competition which was held in Beirut, Lebanon.

Two more editions were held shortly thereafter, in 1964 and 1966, after which there was a 16-year-break in the competition.

Though the tournament was revived in 1982, the editions were sporadic, with a six-year break between 1992 and 1998 and a seven-year gap between 2002 and 2009 editions. 

And after the 2012 edition, the Arab Cup wasn't held for nine years when it was revived and revamped in 2021 in Qatar and brought under the aegis of FIFA. 

Much of the credit for the revamping of Arab Cup under FIFA has to go to Qatar, who played a key role in conceptualising and bringing the tournament under FIFA's umbrella and host the 2021 edition. 

And much of that had to do with Qatar's ambition to be a world class host, centred around their 2022 FIFA World Cup hosting bid. The Middle-East nation invested in world class infrastructure, built new state-of-the-art stadiums with technological innovations like the Cooling Tech.

And Qatar wanted the 2021 edition of the FIFA Arab Cup, held exactly one year before the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to serve as a test event and sort of proclaim their readiness for the World Cup next year to the world.

And the 2021 edition brought the FIFA Arab Cup into mainstream footballing conversations and being under the FIFA umbrella definitely helped. 

But more importantly, the fact that it was held in Qatar in the run up to the 2022 World Cup ensured a lot of eyes were trained on the tournament. Especially since there were a lot of doubters in the footballing world regarding Qatar's ability to host a tournament like the World Cup.

And the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 was a huge success, highlighting the world class infrastructure Qatar had put in place for the World Cup. And the World Cup itself was a resounding success. 

More importantly, Qatar went over and above to make the Arab Cup a success. FIFA documents in 2021 revealed that the host country financed up to 80% of the costs for the tournament!

And Qatar's backing of the FIFA Arab Cup, a tournament that aims to unite the Arab footballing world, has continued even after the 2021 edition which was sort of a test event for the 2022 World Cup. 

Qatar are readying themselves for the 2025 edition currently, with the final set to be held on December 18, their National Day. Arab Cup is now firmly a tournament that will be held once every four years under FIFA.

And more importantly, Qatar will also be hosting the 2029 and 2033 editions as well, providing a world class hosting platform for the tournament that unites the region. 

Qatar has definitey emerged as a world class sporting host over the last few years and that has, in turn, shone a bright spotlight on the FIFA Arab Cup.