Saudi Arabia and Bahrain … 49 years of competition

Fans of both Gulf and Arab football are awaiting the 24th Gulf Cup final between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the first final between the two teams since the introduction of the new system in the 17th Gulf Cup held in Qatar.

The age of Gulf and regional competitions between the two teams is 49 years old.
The first encounter was in Gulf 1 in Manama 1970 which ended in a goalless draw.
In Gulf 3 Saudi Arabia won (4-1). Bahrain returned to win in Gulf 4 in Qatar (2-1), and in Gulf 5 in Baghdad, the match between the two teams resulted again to a draw (1-1).

In Gulf 7 in which the Bahraini Reds shone and finished second after Kuwait, they drew (2-2) against Saudi Arabia.
Two years later in Muscat in 1984, Saudi Arabia outperformed with Al Mojil’s goals.
In the 9th Gulf in Riyadh 1988, Saudi Arabia won with the goal of Majed Abdullah, and in Gulf 11 Qatar 1992, Bahrain won with the goals of Ahmed Abdul Amir and Abdul Razzaq Mohammed. After that Saudi Arabia took the lead in Gulf 12 and 13 (3-1), respectively.

In the 14th Gulf hosted by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia advanced with the goal of Al-Thanyaan before Bahrain returned through Abdul Razzaq Mohammed. The 15th Gulf was won again by Saudi Arabia through the three goals of Hussein Al-Yami, Sami Al-Jaber and Ibrahim Suweid which ended with Saudi Arabia winning the title and Bahrain coming second.

In Gulf 17, Bahrain scored a big result against Saudi Arabia (3-0). Saudi Arabia responded in the Gulf of Abu Dhabi thereafter through Yasser Al-Qahtani, and then Saudi Arabia repeated the victory in the 22nd Gulf with the goals of Hamdan and Mohammed Khubrani.

In general, the two teams met in the Gulf Championships 18 times. Saudi Arabia won 10 times, Bahrain won four times and a draw for four times. The Green attack scored 31 goals against 18 goals for the Red.
The Asian qualifying match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is the most famous in the history of the two teams, where they drew (0-0) in Manama and five days later in Riyadh which ended in a dramatic (2-2) draw that led Bahrain to the international attaché at the time.