A snapshot of the match between Kuwait and England during the 1982 World Cup (Mark Leish/Getty)
Another disappointment for Kuwaiti football, after losing its dream of qualifying for the 2023 Asian Nations Championship, losing 3-0 to Jordan in the third and final round of the first group on Tuesday in the Jaber Al-Winter 2023 Asian Nations Championship. Ahmad International Stadium in Kuwait Qualifiers.
A series of football crises in Kuwait continued in recent years, at a time when “blue” was one of the distinguishing features in Kuwait’s skies and Arab football, through international participation and the culmination of several titles, which were absent after the failure of the compensates the golden generation of Kuwaiti football, led by Faisal Al-Dakhil, Jassim Yaqoub and Abdul Aziz Al-Anbari and other stars.
The Kuwaiti national team has performed extremely well in the Asian Cup throughout its history, as it became the first Arab team to win the title and sit on the throne of the continent, during the seventh edition of the tournament in 1980, which it hosted at home, after beating South Korea by three goals without a reaction in the last game, while the “blue” lost the championship final in 1976 against Iran, and once won third place in 1984, and fourth place in 1996 in the Emirates.
The first Arab in Asia at the World Cup
The 1982 World Cup in Spain witnessed the presence of the Kuwait national team, as the first Asian Arab team to qualify for the global wedding, with the generation of Jassim Yaqoub, Faisal Al-Dakhil, Fathi Kamil, Ahmed Trabelsi and Abdulaziz Al-Anbari.
The first match of the World Cup came against Czechoslovakia in the fourth group competition, which also included England and France, in which Al-Dakhil scored his country’s first goal of the World Cup, which ended in a 1-1 draw. In the second game, the “blue” suffered a 4-0 defeat to France, and the third game was against England, which ended in a loss with a goal, as the Kuwaiti team said goodbye to the World Cup after a historic participation.
The Kuwaiti national team achieved an exceptional amount of crowns in the Gulf Cup championship, winning the title 10 times as more than were crowned, and is at the top of the most crowned with 7 championships from the closest competitors, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Qatar (3 titles for each team) Kuwait won the title in 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998 and 2010.
The Kuwaiti national team won the World Military Cup twice during Qatar 1981 and Kuwait 1983, reaching the finals in more than one version before being crowned the title, runner-up once in 1977 and third place three times in 1973, 1975, 1979.
Al-Arabi twice won the Gulf Cooperation Council Championship for League Champions in 1982 and 2003, and its rival Al-Qadisiyah twice also in 2000 and 2005, and the same for Kazma in 1987 and 1994.
Kuwait SC won second place in the first Arab Cup Winners Cup in Saudi Arabia in 1989, second place in the Arab League for Champions League clubs in Cairo in 2003, and second place in the Arab Federation Cup for Arab clubs in 2013. The “Brigade” also won the AFC Cup title in 2009 and 2012, while Al-Qadisiyah took second place in the same tournament in 2010.
