2019 WAFF Championship


The 2019 West Asian Football Federation Championship, also called Asiacell WAFF Championship Iraq 2019 due to sponsorship by Asiacell, was the 9th edition of the WAFF Championship, an international tournament for member nations of the West Asian Football Federation. It was hosted in Iraq for the first time, in the cities of Karbala and Erbil.
The tournament was meant to be held from 8 to 17 December 2017 in Amman, Jordan, but was postponed to a later date, and subsequently moved to Iraq on 21 May 2018. It was then expected to be held in November 2018, but yet again postponed to July–August 2019.
All WAFF members, excluding title holders Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, participated in the competition. Of the nine teams, seven had also appeared in the previous tournament in 2013. A total of 17 matches were played in two venues across two cities. The [|final] took place on 14 August at the Karbala Sports City in Karbala, between hosts Iraq and Bahrain. Bahrain won the match 1–0 to claim their first WAFF Championship title, marking the second consecutive title won by a Gulf team.

Teams

Participants

A total of nine teams participated in the competition. All WAFF members, other than Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, agreed to take part in the tournament.
TeamAppearanceLast appearancePrevious best performance
4th2013Third place
8th2013Winners
9th2013Runners-up
4th2013Winners
7th2013Group stage
9th2013Group stage
3rd2013Group stage
8th2012Winners
3rd2012Semi-finals

Draw

The teams were distributed on 26 June 2019 in Erbil according to their requests. The nine teams were drawn into two groups: Group A with 5 teams and Group B with 4. While the draw was intended to be held between 18 and 20 July 2019, some teams requested the organizing committee to play in Erbil, therefore placing them in Group B, with the rest of the teams being placed in Group A to play in Karbala. The two group winners directly advanced to the final.
The draw for the group fixtures was held on 20 July 2019 at the Iraq Football Association headquarters in Baghdad.

Squads

Each team had to register a squad of 23 players, three of whom must be goalkeepers.

Officiating

Referees
  • Wathik Al-Baag
  • Mohammed Al-Noori
  • Mohammad Arafah
  • Turki Al-Khudhayr
  • Ali Al-Samaheeji
  • Saad Khalefah
  • Wissam Rabie
  • Mohamad Issa
  • Sameh Al-Qassas
  • Mahmood Al-Majarafi
  • Haitham Al-Walidi
Assistant Referees
  • Muayad Mohamed Ali
  • Jihad Dawood
  • Mahmoud Abu-Thaher
  • Khalaf Al-Shammari
  • Salah Janahi
  • Humoud Al-Sahli
  • Abdullah Kanaan
  • Ali Mokdad
  • Amin Shaban Halabi
  • Hamed Al-Ghafri
  • Ali Al-Hasani

    Venues

Group stage

The WAFF announced the tournament schedule on 20 July 2019. The group winners advance to the final.
''All times are local, AST.''

Group A


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Group B


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Final

Statistics

Goalscorers

Final ranking

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Prize money

Prize money amounts were announced in 2019.
PositionAmount
Champions100,000
Runner-up50,000
Total150,000

Broadcasting rights

The WAFF sold the broadcasting rights for the 2019 WAFF Championship to the following broadcasters.
CountryBroadcaster
Iraq