Palestine drawn in Group A of 2025 FIFA Arab Cup

Palestine preliminary date against Libya confirmed and will face a relatively easy path should they qualify for the Group Stage.

Drama was in short supply in yesterday’s FIFA Arab Cup draw as the preliminary encounters were already known to the federations and keen tournament observers.

Palestine knew they were due to face Libya 48 hours before the draw was held but it did not stop FIFA from revealing the preliminaries in dramatic fashion.

Each of Hassan Al-Haydos, Wael Gomaa, Rabah Madjer, and Yaser Al-Qahtani took turns flashing pieces of paper to reveal the match ups. Crucially though these pieces of paper were not placed in balls in the pots in front of them.

At no point did FIFA’s Jaime Yarza explain that the preliminary match ups were already predetermined. The Arabic translator on beIN Sports did sheepishly chime in with that fact about halfway through the preliminary draw.

Palestine received raucous applause from those in attendance at the Raffles Hotel when their match up with Libya was confirmed.

Once the seven preliminaries were drawn the draw commenced for the group stage commenced with hosts Qatar and holders Algeria being drawn on opposite ends of the bracket before Morocco and Egypt were placed in Groups B & C, respectively.

Palestine/Libya were the first team out of Pot 4 and were placed in Group A alongside the hosts Qatar, Tunisia, and the winner of the Syria-South Sudan preliminary.

AFCON looms large

When FIFA brought this tournament back to life four years ago it was widely dismissed as a test event for the 2022 World Cup. The interest of the viewing public showed that this tournament was anything but.

The quality of football on display was high and the average attendance of 18,000 showed the importance of the tournament for the Arab diaspora communities in Qatar.

The only thing stopping the tournament from achieving elite status was the fact that in spite of FIFA’s backing it was not contested on a FIFA Match Day. As a result, the Arab World’s elite players stayed with their clubs in Europe.

The 2025 edition will run into the same problem and there is the added headache of the African Cup of Nations which is due to be held three days after the Arab Cup’s conclusion.

Four years earlier the African sides put together strong, competitive squads that featured many first team regulars. This time around the squads of Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, are likely to feature domestic players that missed out on the 26-man AFCON squad.

The other AFCON finalists are Comoros and Sudan who have been drawn in the preliminary round against Yemen and Lebanon, respectively. Given Comoros’s reliance on their French diaspora they will likely be left to field a far weaker side in this tournament.

Sudan might prove the exception. Nearly all their players playing for Sudanese or Libyan clubs, and with their first match AFCON match on December 24th, they could conceivably use the same squad for both tournaments.

Schedule not Released

Given their presence in Group A there is a possibility that Palestine could play the opening match of the tournament against hosts Qatar.

The organizers have yet to release the schedule of matches but have announced that six World Cup Stadiums will be used- 974 Stadium, Al Bayt, Ahmad bin Ali, Education City, Khalifa International, and Lusail.

Palestine will face Libya on November 25th or 26th. Should they qualify their first Group Stage game will be on December 1st.