FIFA Arab Cup 2025: everything you need to know – teams, venues, format

The second edition of the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup kicks off on December 1 when Tunisia takes on Syria at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan.

The last edition of the tournament – ​​the first organized by FIFA – took place in 2021, with Algeria beating Tunisia 2-1 in the final in Al Khor.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup:

LOCATION

The tournament will be held at six venues in Qatar, all of which were also used during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. These venues are Al Bayt Stadium (Al Khor), Lusail Stadium (Lusail), Stadium 974 (Doha), Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, Education City Stadium and Khalifa International Stadium (all Al Rayyan).

The tournament opener will be held at Al Bayt Stadium, while the final will take place at Lusail Stadium.

QUALIFIED TEAMS

Hosts Qatar and defending champions Algeria automatically qualified for the tournament, along with the seven highest-ranked countries at the time of the CAF and AFC draw. The remaining slots were filled through a series of single-stage qualifiers.

The seven automatically qualified teams were Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, while Kuwait, Syria, Palestine, Oman, Bahrain, Sudan and Comoros qualified through the qualifiers.

FORMAT

The 16 qualified teams are divided into four groups of four teams each. The groups are:

Group A: Qatar, Tunisia, Syria, Palestine

Group B: Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Comoros

Group C: Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait

Group D: Algeria, Iraq, Bahrain, Sudan

The top two teams from each group qualify for the knockout stage, consisting of the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

TIEBREAKERS

In the event that teams finish on an equal number of points, the criteria for determining rankings will be determined by a two-step process. The process is as follows:

Step 1: a) the number of points scored in the group matches between the teams b) the goal difference in group matches between the teams c) the number of goals scored in group matches between the teams.

If all three of these criteria are on level, the second level of criteria is used.

Step 2: a) goal difference in all group matches b) the number of goals scored in all group matches c) highest team score based on red and yellow cards received.

Published on December 1, 2025