The Arab Football Federation and its organizational committees have completed all preparations for the launch of the Arab Cup for under-20 teams in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the cities of Riyadh, Dammam and Al-Khobar during the period from February 17 to March 5, in partnership with the Leadership Development Institute at the General Authority for Sports.16 teams participate in the championship competitions, which are Iraq, Tunisia, Mauritania and Kuwait in the first group, Morocco, Bahrain, Djibouti and Madagascar in the second, and Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Algeria and Egypt in the third, in addition to Sudan, Libya, the Emirates and Senegal in the fourth group.
This comes within the interests of the Arab Football Federation to develop its championships and develop competitions for the Sunni groups of Arab teams during the coming period under the guidance and follow-up of the President of the Federation Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, in order to ensure its continuity and benefit the Arab players and develop their capabilities and technical capabilities.
The Arab memory will restore 5 previous versions of the championship for this age group, as the Moroccan team is the most culminating in it on two occasions, followed by the teams of Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia by one time each, as the tournament was launched for the first time under the name “Palestine Youth Cup” and then the name changed to « Arab Cup », as the first edition was hosted by Morocco in 1983, and the Iraqi team won the title in its favor after defeating the Saudi team in the final match, while Algeria embraced the second versions of the tournament two years later, and its team lost the final match to its Saudi brother, who compensated for his loss in the final 1983 crowned by pal For the first time in its history.
After 4 years, Iraq hosted the Arab Cup competitions for the under-20 teams, and its team managed to reach the final before losing to Morocco, while the championship competitions stopped for a long time, and resumed in 2011 the copy that was held in Morocco, during which the owners of the land succeeded in crowning the title for the second time Respectively after beating Saudi Arabia in the final round.
In the following year directly (2012), the competition was hosted by Jordan, and Tunisia and Saudi Arabia reached the final, but the Tunisian team won the title for the first time.
Today, Saudi Arabia is preparing to embrace the sixth edition competitions, after an absence period of 8 years, with the largest number of participating teams (16 teams) for the first time in the history of the Arab championship, and with a new participation for the first time for the teams of Madagascar and Senegal.
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https://www.okaz.com.sa/sport/na/2009163
