The 2023 Arab Cup final will see Jordan and Morocco face off in a historic match this Friday in Basra, Iraq. This contest marks only the second time in the tournament’s 62-year history that teams from both the Asian and African sides of the Arab world will compete for the championship title. Historically dominated by teams within their respective continents, this final represents a shift in the tournament’s competitive landscape and a compelling opportunity for regional supremacy.
The upcoming final between Jordan and Morocco in the Arab Cup will mark only the second time in the tournament’s 62-year history that teams from the Asian and African sides of the Arab world have faced off for the championship. The Arab Cup, a competition dating back to the 1960s, has historically seen dominance from within each continent, with limited crossover until recent years.
In the early years of the tournament, representation from African nations was sparse. Tunisia was the sole representative from the continent in the inaugural 1963 edition, going on to win the title against four Asian Arab teams. Libya strongly contended in 1964, but both of those early tournaments were structured as single round-robin leagues, lacking a traditional final match. Tunisia secured the first title with a two-point advantage over Syria, while Iraq claimed the second, edging Libya by a single point.
Even after the tournament format shifted to include group stages and knockout rounds, the trend continued. Libya remained the lone African participant in the 1966 tournament, which hosted the first-ever Arab Cup final, but the match pitted Iraq against Syria. This pattern persisted when the competition resumed after a 19-year hiatus, with Iraq facing Bahrain in the 1985 final, and only a brief appearance from Mauritania representing Africa.
As African Arab nations gained greater representation in the tournament starting in 1988, the final remained an all-Asian affair, again featuring Iraq and Syria. Matches between Asian representatives are the most frequent final matchup in the tournament’s history, occurring five times, most recently in 1998 and 2002 when Saudi Arabia defeated Qatar and Bahrain, respectively. The tournament also saw two finals with exclusively African representation, in 2012 and 2021, with Morocco’s victory over Libya and Algeria’s triumph over Tunisia.
The clash between Jordan and Morocco represents just the second instance of a final featuring teams from both the Asian and African continents. The only previous occasion was in 1992, when Egypt defeated Saudi Arabia 3-2 to claim their sole Arab Cup title, marking the only loss for Saudi Arabia in a final. This year’s final promises a compelling contest as both teams vie for regional supremacy.
