Carlos Alberto Gomes Parreira is a Brazilian former football manager who holds the record for attending the most FIFA World Cup final tournaments as manager with six appearances. He also managed five different national teams in five editions of the FIFA World Cup. He managed Brazil to victory at the 1994 World Cup, the 2004 Copa América, and the 2005 Confederations Cup. He is also the only manager to have led two different Asian teams to conquer the AFC Asian Cup.
The Saudi Arabia national football team (SAFF) represents Saudi Arabia in men's international football. They are known as Al-Suqour Al-Arabiyyah and sometimes Al-Suqour Al-Khodhur, a reference to their traditional colours of green and white, and represent both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The Iraq national football team represents Iraq in men's international football and is controlled by the Iraq Football Association (IFA), the governing body for football in Iraq. Iraq's usual home venue is the Basra International Stadium.
The United Arab Emirates national football team represents United Arab Emirates in international football and serves under the auspices of the country's Football Association.
The Bahrain national football team represents Bahrain in international football and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association, which was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the World Cup, but have twice come within one match of doing so. Bahrain won the FIFA's most improved team award in 2004, and finished fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup, beating Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals but losing to Japan in the semi-finals 4–3. Bahrain then lost to Iran in the third-place match, thus finishing in fourth place overall. Bahrain had a golden year in 2019, winning both the WAFF Championship and the Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time, under the stewardship of Hélio Sousa.
The Qatar national football team, nicknamed "The Maroons", represents Qatar in international football, and is controlled by the Qatar Football Association, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and comes under the global jurisdiction of world football’s governing body FIFA. They play their home games at Khalifa International Stadium and Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. The latter is considered the home stadium.
Hossam Hassan Hassanein is an Egyptian former professional football player who played as a striker, and current coach of the Egyptian national team. A prolific goal scorer, he is Egypt's all-time top scorer with 69 goals in 177 appearances. His twin brother Ibrahim also played professional football, and they shared teams for most of their extensive careers.
Lambertus van Marwijk is a Dutch football manager who serves as an advisor for MVV Maastricht. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ, MVV and Fortuna Sittard amongst other clubs and also represented the Netherlands once.
Sami Abdullah Mohammed Al-Jaber is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former professional player who played as a striker. He spent the entirety of his career with Al-Hilal, apart from a five-month loan to English club Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation is the football governing body of Saudi Arabia. Founded in 1956, its responsibilities include administration of club competitions and national teams. The founder of the SAFF is Prince Abdullah bin Faisal Al Saud.
Otto Martin Pfister is a German football manager and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa's Manager of the Year in 1992. He is formerly the manager of the Afghanistan national team.
Mohammad Bandar Saud Al-Shalhoub is a Saudi Arabian former footballer and current assistant manager of Al-Hilal. He played as an attacking midfielder for Al Hilal in the Saudi Professional League. A legend of Saudi football, he won 33 trophies with Al Hilal and one title with the Saudi Arabia national team, making him one of the most decorated footballers of all time.
Cosmin Aurelian Olăroiu is a Romanian football manager and former player, who is in charge of UAE Pro League club Sharjah.
Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino is a Swiss-Italian football administrator and the president of FIFA since February 2016. He was re-elected in June 2019 and in March 2023. In January 2020, he was also elected a member of the International Olympic Committee.
The Bahrain women's national football team represents Bahrain in international women's football, and falls under the governance of the Bahrain Football Association, more specifically run by the women's committee at the association. Although having participated in several friendly tournaments, the team played its first official international match against the Maldives on April 22, 2007 and entered the FIFA Women's World Rankings in June 2007 at 111th out of 142 countries.
Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard is a French professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of Saudi Arabia.
Radhi Shenaishil Swadi is a former Iraqi footballer and former coach of the Iraq national football team.
Jan Van Winckel is a Belgian football coach, UEFA and AFC Pro License Instructor and a FIFA Technical Expert. He is Technical Director at the United Arab Emirates Football Association.
The Saudi Arabia women's national football team is the official women's national football team of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The team is controlled by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), the governing body for football in Saudi Arabia.
The following are the scheduled events of association football (soccer) for the calendar year 2023 throughout the world. This includes the following:
