DOHA (Qatar): Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain announced they will participate in this month’s Gulf Cup football tournament in Qatar.
The three Gulf states and Egypt cut relations with the oil-rich state in June, 2017.
The countries had refused to participate in the previous edition two years ago, which was originally scheduled in Qatar just a few months after the crisis broke.
However, they eventually took part when the event was shifted to Kuwait.
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation said that it had accepted the invitation to take part in the tournament from November 24 and December 6.
“The Saudi Football Federation has received a letter from the Arabian Gulf Cup federation, which includes a renewal of their invitation to participate in the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup,” it said in a statement on Twitter.
“The (Saudi) federation has decided to agree to participate.”
The football federations of the UAE and Bahrain also decided that they will travel to Doha for the regional tournament.
The announcements signal a possible easing of the bitter rift between Doha and the Riyadh-led group, which had imposed bans on shipping, trade, direct flights, overflights and land crossings with Qatar.
