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2015 GCC U-23 Championship

البطولة الخليجية للمنتخبات تحت 23 سنة لكرة القدم (in Arabic)
Tournament details
Host country	Bahrain
Dates	16–28 January
Teams	6 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions	Saudi Arabia (3rd title)
Runners-up	Kuwait
Third place	Oman
Fourth place	United Arab Emirates
Tournament statistics
Matches played	11
Goals scored	32 (2.91 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Ahmed Hizam Al Shammari (4 goals)
Best player(s)	Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem
Best goalkeeper	Ahmed Al-Rehaili
← 2013 2016 →

The 2015 GCC U-23 Championship was the sixth edition of the GCC U-23 Championship. It took place in Bahrain for the second time. Six nations took part. The competition was held in Riffa from 16 to 29 January. Saudi Arabia won their third title after defeating Kuwait 5–2 in the final.

The 2015 edition was officially known as the Huawei GCC National Teams Under-23 Championship for the second time after the sponsorship deal between Huawei and the AGCFF.

It was initially going to be hosted by Qatar in September 2014, but was later moved to Bahrain and scheduled for January 2015 The group stage draw was held on 4 June 2014.

The semi-final and final were delayed by a number of days due to the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Teams

Team	Previous appearances in tournament
Bahrain (host)	5 (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Kuwait	5 (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Qatar	5 (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Oman	5 (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Saudi Arabia	5 (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)
United Arab Emirates	4 (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)

1. Bold indicates champion for that year. Italic indicates host for that year.

Venues

Riffa	Riffa
	Bahrain National Stadium
	Capacity: 24,000

Group stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United Arab Emirates	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	Kuwait	2	1	0	1	3	2	+1	3
3	Qatar	2	0	1	1	0	3	−3	1

Kuwait	0–2	United Arab Emirates
		Ahmed 71' Salmeen 90+2'

Kuwait	3–0	Qatar
Al-Tararwa 22' Al Shammari 56' Dashti 60'

United Arab Emirates	0–0	Qatar

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Oman	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	Saudi Arabia	2	1	0	1	5	5	0	3
3	Bahrain (H)	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1

Saudi Arabia	3–2	Bahrain
Al-Sulaiheem 32' Al-Nadhri 77' Al-Saiari 90+1'		Hassan 47' Matar 51'

Saudi Arabia	2–3	Oman
Al-Bishi 68' Al-Nadhri 72'		Al-Rushadi 9', 43' Al-Hamdani 48'

Bahrain	0–0	Oman

Knockout stage

In the knockout stage, extra time and penalty shoot-out were to be used to decide the winner if necessary (Regulations Articles 10.1 and 10.3).

Bracket

	Semi-finals				Final
	26 January – Riffa
	United Arab Emirates	1 (3)
					28 January – Riffa
	Saudi Arabia (p)	1 (5)
					Saudi Arabia	5
	26 January – Riffa
					Kuwait	2
	Oman	1 (4)
	Kuwait (p)	1 (5)
					Third place match
					28 January – Riffa
					United Arab Emirates	1
					Oman	2

Fifth place play-off

Qatar	1–2	Bahrain
Alaaeldin 29'		Adel 73' Al-Osfor 85'

Semi-finals

United Arab Emirates	1–1	Saudi Arabia
Mubarak 25'		Al-Kharaa 6'
Penalties
	3–5

Oman	1–1	Kuwait
Fazari 42'		Al Shammari 7'
Penalties
	4–5

Third place play-off

United Arab Emirates	1–2	Oman
Jassim 67' (pen.)		Al-Siyabi 49' Al-Rawahi 79'

Final

Saudi Arabia	5–2	Kuwait
Al-Bishi 32' Al-Saiari 40' Al-Nadhri 67' Al-Sulaiheem 74' (pen.) Othman 90+4'	Report	Al Shammari 46', 86' (pen.)

Winners

2015 GCC U-23 Championship champion
Saudi Arabia Third title

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Top Goalscorers	Most Valuable Player	Best goalkeeper
Ahmed Hizam Al Shammari	Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem	Ahmed Al-Rehaili

Goalscorers

There have been 32 goals scored in 11 matches, for an average of 2.91 goals per match.

4 goals

• Ahmed Hizam Al Shammari

3 goals

• Ahmed Al-Nadhri

2 goals

• Hatem Al-Rushadi
• Abdulaziz Al-Bishi
• Mohammed Al-Saiari
• Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem

1 goal

• Mohamed Adel
• Ali Al-Osfor
• Ali Hassan
• Mohammed Matar
• Yaqoub Al-Tararwa
• Mahmoud Dashti
• Khaled Al-Hamdani
• Mohammed Al-Rawahi
• Ahmed Al-Siyabi
• Omer Fazari
• Ahmed Alaaeldin
• Faisel Al-Kharaa
• Mazen Othman
• Yousef Ahmed
• Saeed Jassim
• Khalfan Mubarak
• Ali Salmeen

References

1. "Bahrain to host GCC olympic and U-17 tournaments". Archived from the original on 2014-12-29. Retrieved 2014-09-17.
2. "الكويت والإمارات تفتتحان اليوم أولى مباريات بطولة (هواوي) السادسة للمنتخبات الخليجية لكرة القدم تحت 23 سنة".
3. "منتخبنا الأولمبي يتوج بطلا لكأس الخليج للمرة الثالثة".
4. "Huawei signs on as title sponsor for Gulf Cup". Retrieved 15 August 2013.
5. "GCC U-23 Tournament date moved to August 30". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
6. UAE prepare for the GCC U-23 Cup
7. "U-23 drawn in Group B". Archived from the original on 2014-07-14. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
8. "تأجيل مباراتي قبل نهائي بطولة الخليج للمنتخبات الاولمبية بعد وفاة العاهل السعودي".

External links

• GCC U-23 Championship at Goalzz

v t e GCC U-23 Championship
Saudi Arabia 2008 Qatar 2010 Qatar 2011 Qatar 2012 Bahrain 2013 Bahrain 2015 Qatar 2016
Category:GCC U-23 Championship

• GCC U-23 Championship
• International association football competitions hosted by Bahrain
• 2015 in Asian football
• 2014–15 in Bahraini football
• 2014–15 in Qatari football
• 2014–15 in Saudi Arabian football
• 2014–15 in Omani football
• 2014–15 in Kuwaiti football
• 2014–15 in Emirati football
• 2015 in youth association football