Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Qatar will host two major football tournaments later this year, FIFA confirmed in a meeting in Zurich. The FIFA Arab Cup will run from December 1 to 18 and The U17 FIFA World Cup will also be held in Qatar from November 3 to 27.
The Arab Cup will feature 16 teams from the Arab world, and Qatar will host it for the second time after a successful event in 2021. The tournament is expected to draw huge crowds.
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, Qatar’s Minister of Sports and Youth, welcomed the announcement. He said the Arab Cup will bring people together and the U17 World Cup will highlight young football stars.
“We’re ready to welcome fans and players to our world-class stadiums,” said Sheikh Hamad. “This is another chance to show Qatar’s ability to host major events and unite people through sport.”
The U17 World Cup will be the first to feature 48 teams, with 104 matches played over 25 days. The tournament is set to uncover the next big names in football.
Qatar’s U17 team, which finished fourth in 1991, will be hoping to improve on that performance.
Details of the venues and tickets will be announced soon. Qatar will also host the Arab Cup again in 2029 and 2033, along with five consecutive Under-17 World Cups.
The timing for the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup might cause some problems for national teams from North Africa.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced in December that the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) will start on December 21, 2025 — only three days after the final game for the Arab Cup.
Morocco is likely to participate in the Qatar Arab Cup with a squad made of domestic league players, as they did in 2021 when they lost on penalty kicks to title-holders Algeria in the quarter-finals.
