DOHA (Qatar): The draw for the Arab Cup tournament was held at Katara Opera House on Tuesday with reduced officials and regional football legends.
The competition will be a test event for the 2022 World Cup.
The tournament will consist of a group stage and knockout rounds. The 16 teams will be split into four groups of four, with the top two from each progressing to the quarter-finals. Matches will be played at six FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 venues.
The draw involved four FIFA legends: Wael Gomaa (Egypt), Nawaf Al Temyat (Saudi Arabia), Haytham Mustafa (Sudan) and Younus Mahmood (Iraq), along with FIFA’s Director of Competitions, Manolo Zubiria.
“(It) will be a fantastic event — the first of many, the first FIFA Arab Cup… as an event to prepare for the World Cup, as an event to unite the Arab World,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino ahead of the draw. “Everything is almost ready.”
The tournament, which will see 23 teams vie to be Arab champions, will be staged until December 18 at six of the eight stadiums which will host games in 2022.
“(It) is a test for Qatar a year before hosting the World Cup — for the first time in the Middle East,” said official Qatar News Agency. “It will also be an opportunity to learn about the operational processes and facilities of those stadiums.”
The 14 lowest-ranked teams according to the April edition of the FIFA world rankings will participate in single-leg playoffs ahead of the tournament.
Only a handful of selected guests were flown in for the draw and were required to undergo coronavirus tests and stay in a bio-secure bubble ahead of the event.
