Doha: Participating in the 2025 Arab Cup finals, hosted by Doha from December 1 to 18, will be the dream of four national teams that have never qualified for the prestigious tournament since its inception in 1963. These four teams-Somalia, Comoros, Djibouti, and South Sudan-have failed to qualify for the Arab Cup finals before. They will compete in the qualifying rounds for the 2025 edition on November 25 and 26.
According to Qatar News Agency, fourteen of the lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings for April will participate in the qualifying rounds for the 2025 Arab Cup. The winners of these qualifying matches will join the seven highest-ranked teams, along with Qatar (the host nation) and Algeria (the defending champions), in the final round.
The four teams will face a tough challenge in reaching the Arab Cup finals for the first time, given the difficult matches they will encounter against strong and experienced opponents. Somalia will play a rematch of the 2021 Arab Cup qualifiers against Oman on November 26. The two teams previously met in the same qualifiers four years ago, but Somalia lost 2-1, dashing their hopes of qualifying. Somalia are aiming to achieve the goal they failed to reach in the previous edition, while Oman are looking to qualify for the second time in its history, having successfully done so in the previous qualifiers.
In the last Arab Cup, Oman not only qualified for the finals but also advanced to the second round with four points, having defeated Bahrain (3-0), drawn with Iraq (1-1), and lost to Qatar (1-2). They were then eliminated by Tunisia (1-2) in the quarterfinals.
In another match, Comoros aims to reach the Arab Cup finals for the first time when they face Yemen on November 26. Comoros will be looking to secure a victory and a place in the tournament, hoping to make amends for their previous qualifier defeat against Palestine, where they lost 5-0.
Meanwhile, Yemen will be seeking redemption after failing to qualify for the last edition of the tournament, also held in Doha in 2021, following a 2-0 loss to Mauritania in the qualifiers. In a third qualifying match, Djibouti will be seeking their first-ever appearance in the Arab Cup finals when they face Bahrain on November 26. They hope to finally qualify after failing to do so in the previous round, following a 1-0 loss to Lebanon.
On the other hand, Bahrain is looking to return to the tournament and progress further than in the previous edition, where they only managed to reach the first round, securing a single point from a goalless draw against Iraq and suffering defeats to Qatar (0-1) and Oman (0-3) respectively.
In another match, South Sudan dream of reaching the prestigious Arab tournament when they face Syria on November 25. They aim to win and make up for their failure to qualify for the previous edition after a 3-0 loss to Jordan in the qualifiers. Meanwhile, Syria will be under pressure to win, not only to qualify for the finals but also to go far in the tournament. They were eliminated in the early stages of the last edition, finishing third in their group with three points, earned from a single, valuable 2-0 victory against Tunisia and two 2-1 defeats to the UAE and Mauritania.
Besides the four matches already mentioned, which feature teams seeking their first appearance in the tournament, there will be three other encounters between teams that have previously participated in the Arab Cup finals. Kuwait will face Mauritania on November 25, while Palestine will play against Libya on the same day. The seventh qualifying match will see Sudan take on Lebanon on November 26.
All indications suggest that the qualifying matches will be challenging for all participating teams, given their legitimate ambition to qualify for and join the major Arab event, which will kick off in the Qatari capital on December 1.