The 2025 FIFA Arab Cup (Arabic: كأس العرب 2025) will be the 11th edition of the Arab Cup, the Arab world's national team football tournament. It will be the second edition under FIFA's jurisdiction, with previous editions having been organized by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA). The tournament will take place in Qatar from 1 to 18 December 2025. This is the third time that Qatar are hosting the competition following the 1998 and 2021 editions. Algeria are the defending champions. == Teams == Of the 23 participating teams, the host nation Qatar, the title holders Algeria, and the remaining seven highest-ranked teams based on the April 2025 FIFA Ranking automatically qualified for the group stage. The remaining 14 teams will play seven single-leg qualification matches, with the seven winners advancing to the group stage. In the group stage, there will be four groups of four teams in a round-robin format, with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the knockout stage, which will consist of quarter-finals, semi-finals, a play-off for third place, and the final. The 14 teams in the qualifiers were paired based on their April 2025 FIFA Ranking and consist of the seven lowest-ranked teams from both the AFC and the CAF. The highest-ranked AFC team plays the lowest-ranked CAF team, the second-highest-ranked AFC team plays the second-lowest-ranked CAF team, and so forth, creating seven inter-confederation matchups. The winners of qualification matches 1, 2, and 3 will occupy positions 2, 3, and 4 in Pot 3 for the final tournament draw, while the winners of the remaining four matches will be placed in Pot 4 in order. Note: Parentheses show FIFA World Ranking (at the time of the draw) and confederation. == Draw == The group stage draw took place on 25 May 2025 at 20:00 AST in at the Raffles Hotel in Doha, Qatar. It was conducted by Jaime Yarza, FIFA's director of tournaments, and four current and former players: Hassan Al-Haydos (Qatar), Rabah Madjer (Algeria), Yasser Al-Qahtani (Saudi Arabia), and Wael Gomaa (Egypt). === Method === The sixteen teams were drawn into four groups of four teams. The draw started with Pot 1 and ended with Pot 4, from where a team was drawn and assigned to the first available group in the position of their Pot (i.e. position 1 for Pot 1). The hosts, Qatar, and the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup champions, Algeria, were automatically seeded into Pot 1 and assigned to position A1 and D1, respectively. The remaining automatically qualified teams were seeded into their respective Pots based on the FIFA World Ranking of April 2025 (shown below). The United Arab Emirates, the lowest-ranked team that automatically qualified, will be joined in Pot 3 by the winners of qualification matches 1 to 3, while Pot 4 will contain the winners of qualification matches 4 to 7. == Squads == == Match officials == On 14 October 2025, FIFA has appointed 54 match officials from 23 member associations for the tournament. This included 14 referees, 28 assistant referees, and 12 video match officials. == Venues == On 24 May 2025, the Qatari organising committee announced the six venues that would host the tournament, all of which were used for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It was also announced that, similarly to the aforementioned competition, Al Bayt Stadium would host the opening game with Lusail Stadium hosting the final. == Qualification == The 14 lowest-ranked teams in the April 2025 FIFA World Ranking will meet on 25 and 26 November in a single knockout match. The best-ranked AFC team will meet the lowest-ranked CAF team, the second-best AFC team played the second-lowest CAF team, and so on. === Summary === === Matches === All times are local, AST (UTC+3). == Format == Of the 23 participating teams, the top nine teams based on the April 2025 FIFA World Ranking qualified directly to the group stage, while the remaining 14 teams will play seven qualifying matches, of which seven will qualify for the next stage. In the group stage, the teams were divided into four groups of four, with the two best teams from each group advancing to the quarter-finals. === Tiebreakers === The ranking of teams in the group stage is determined as follows: Points obtained in all group matches (three for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat); Goal difference in all group matches; Goals scored in all group matches; Points obtained in matches between the teams concerned; Goal difference in matches between the teams concerned; Goals scored in matches between the teams concerned; Fair play points in all group matches (only one deduction per player per match): Latest FIFA Men's World Ranking. The knockout stage includes all stages from the quarter-finals to the final match. The winner of each match will advance to the next stage and the loser will be eliminated. The losing teams of the semi-finals will play the match for third place. In the final match, the winner gets the Arab Cup. In all final cases, if the match ends in a tie, then extra time will be played. If the score is still equal after extra time, it will be decided by a penalty shoot-out. === Schedule === All times are local, AST (UTC+3). == Group stage == === Group A === === Group B === === Group C === === Group D === == Knockout stage == The knockout stage will be the second and final stage of the tournament, after the group stage. It will start on 11 December with the quarter-finals and will end on 18 December following the final match that will be held at Lusail Stadium in Lusail. The best two teams from each group (8 in total) advance to the knockout stage to compete in a singles-elimination tournament. A match for third place will be played between the two losing teams in the semi-finals. If the match is tied at the end of the original playing time, two halves of extra time will be played (15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners. Below is an arc for the knockout stage of the tournament. Teams in bold indicate the winners of the match. === Bracket === === Quarter-finals === === Semi-finals === === Third place play-off === === Final === == Broadcasting rights == == References == == External links == Official website