Tickets for the 25th Gulf Cup, Iraq’s first soccer tournament in more than 40 years, went on sale Saturday.
January’s tournament in the southern city of Basra will see Saudi Arabia clash after their World Cup appearance in Qatar, where they provided one of the festival’s surprises by beating eventual champions Argentina 2-1.
Qatar, which withdrew from the World Cup after the first round, will compete alongside Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and host Iraq.
Sustaining the Cup is a challenge for Iraq, which has experienced decades of confrontation following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, a former authoritarian, in the 2003 U. S. invasion. Security remains fragile in much of the country.
“Today we are launching Gulf 25 ticket sales,” Adnan Dirjal, head of the Iraqi football federation, said in Basra on Saturday.
Tickets for the Jan. 6-19 festival from $10 to $30.
The Iraqi government announced earlier this month that enthusiasts traveling to Iraq for the festival will have to pay visa fees. The country hopes to attract soccer enthusiasts from across the region, adding Kuwait, whose border with Iraq is less than 50 km (30 miles) away. of Basra.
One of the city’s stadiums holds 65,000 spectators, while the moment seats 30,000 fans and will open on Monday with a friendly between two clubs from the Iraqi and Kuwaiti national leagues.
Soccer’s governing body, FIFA, earlier this year lifted a ban on competitions in Iraq that had been in place for years due to security concerns.
In January, Baghdad’s packed Al-Madina Stadium hosted a friendly match between Iraq and Uganda, the first in the capital since 2013.
Iraq first hosted the Gulf Cup in Baghdad in 1979, when it also won the tournament. The country intended to host the 2014 edition of the Cup, but instead transferred to Saudi Arabia.