Khaberni - On Tuesday and Wednesday, the identities of the seven qualifying teams for the Arab Cup 2025 football competition, which will be hosted by Qatar for the second consecutive time from December 1 to 18, will be decided.
The national team will meet its UAE counterpart on Wednesday, December 3, in the first round of the group stage.
The national team’s technical staff, led by coach Jamal Salami, has announced the final roster of Al-Nashama for participation in the "FIFA Arab Cup 2025" held from December 1-18, next in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The Gulf state, which hosted the last World Cup in 2022, will host seven matches for the 14 lowest-ranked teams over two days, and the winners will join nine teams that automatically qualified.
Qatar hosted the 2021 edition as a rehearsal for the first World Cup held in the Middle East, with Algeria’s reserve team clinching the title against Tunisia 2-0 after extra time.
The winner of the matches between Syria and South Sudan, and Palestine and Libya, will join Group One which includes Qatar and Tunisia.
Due to commitments of several professional players with their clubs and because the tournament is held outside of FIFA days, several players will be absent from the Syrian team, notably Pablo Sabbagh, Mohammed Osman, and Ayham Oso, in addition to Omar Khribin and goalkeeper Elias Hedaya, who will join the ranks of the "Qasioun Eagles" should they qualify for the group stage.
On the eve of the Libya vs. Palestine match, Senegalese coach Aliou Cisse said in a press conference: "Libya is trying to build a team with specific goals, the prominent one being to pass the qualifiers of the Africa Cup of Nations 2027. To build a team we need to train hard and play as many matches as possible, and this tournament will give us this opportunity."
Meanwhile, the Palestinian midfielder Hamed Hamdan said: "After the World Cup qualifiers, we focused all our preparations on the Libya match. Our goal is always to ensure Palestine is present in all arenas."
