Football the biggest loser in Qatar crisis

Bengaluru/Doha, November 20: The ongoing diplomatic row in the middle east is spilling on to the football pitch as well.

From June 6, the day when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and some other Arab countries snapped political and economic ties with Qatar over accusations that the country supports terrorism, situation in the tiny middle east country which is set to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been a cause of worry.

Football is the latest casualty in the political impasse as the Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain decided to pull out of the Gulf Cup of Nations tournament which defending champions Qatar is scheduled to host from December 22 to January 5.

The tournament was meant to be a dress-rehearsal for the FIFA's quadrennial extravaganza with the final scheduled to be held at recently-renovated Khalifa International Stadium, one of the 2022 World Cup venues.

The three countries had wanted the tournament to be postponed till the political crisis was resolved and had even boycotted the draw ceremony of the biennial regional competition held in Doha in September.

Qatar to go ahead with Gulf Cup despite political row

All the three countries were given a deadline though to confirm their participation in the tournament and despite them failing to meet it, the organisers have decided to go ahead with the tournament without the 'big three'.

"There was no response to our letter from these three nations. We still can conduct the tournament with five teams," Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation President Jassim Al Rumaihi was quoted as saying in media.

Other than hosts, Iraq, Yemen and Oman are the only teams to have confirmed their participation for the event.

But in the present circumstances the hosts may find difficulty in getting five teams on board as Kuwait, who is not part of the diplomatic crisis, has a different issue of its own to settle with its national federation being suspended by FIFA over alleged government interference in the running of the body.

Infact, Kuwait were supposed to host the championship originally before it was moved to Qatar because of the FIFA ban.

Now, Unless FIFA lifts the ban on Kuwait before November 30, there is every chance that Gulf Cup, the main battleground for Arab supremacy will become the first high-profile sporting victim of the diplomatic dispute.

It may also lead to a doubt over Qatar's participation in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup to be held in the UAE.

For the time being, football is the biggest loser though...