Aden - The Gulf Football Cup will be inaugurated officially in Yemen Monday evening by Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The 20th Gulf Cup, hosted in Yemen for the first time since its accession to some GCC institutions nine years ago, will take place from November 21st up to December 5th 2010. The inauguration will also be attended by President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh and President of Eritrea Isaias Afewerki, in addition to heads of the participating delegations in the championship. The Yemeni team will face in the opening the Saudi team, three time champions of the Cup which begun in Bahrain 40 years ago. In the Second match, which will start 10 pm local time (7GMT), Qatar will play Kuwait. Yemen invested almost $1 billion to prepare for the Cup by building new stadiums and Hotels. Yemen''s Interior Minister Mutahar al-Masri said the two-week event involving eight teams from the GCC, Yemen and Iraq will be "100% safe," and the military has deployed extra 30,000 troops to Aden and Abyan. The first Gulf Cup was inaugurated on March 27, 1970, by the Emir of Bahrain with four national teams; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain. It began when the Bahrain Football Association adopted this idea under the chairmanship of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa who travelled as the head of a delegation from Bahrain to Mexico during a session of the Mexico City Olympics in 1968, and introduced the idea to the Stanley Rouse, President of world football body then. In February 1969, Rouse visited Bahrain, where he met the then Governor of Bahrain, Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. Rouse expressed his support and welcomed it strongly on the grounds that the Gulf region did not have the opportunity to participate in any tournaments and international competitions. Rouse agreed upon the establishment of this tournament and the team of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain participated in it. Qatar participated with special exception from the president of FIFA since it was not a member of International Federation of Football during those days but it received a temporary membership to take part in the event. The preliminary meeting for the Gulf Cup was held under the chairmanship of Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Football Association on June 19, 1969 in the municipality of Bahrain and in the presence of representatives of associations of the four Gulf states. It was agreed to hold the first Gulf Cup in March 1970 in Bahrain, as the amendable draft was approved. The draft which was approved, included the objectives of the tournament, namely to raise interest in sport, raise the level football in the Gulf states and provide the opportunity for closer ties of fraternity and friendship between the people of the Arabian Gulf. UAE joined the party two years later in 1972, while Oman was participating for the first time in the Kuwait Torment which was held in 1974. In 1976, Iraq participated for the first time and Yemen was for the first time 8 years ago.(QNA)
Source: http://www.qnaol.net