Competition System

In the first round of the main competition (also referred to as Upper Bracket Semi-Finals), teams are paired as follows:

- Rank #1 vs Rank #4 - Rank #2 vs Rank #3

The winners of these games advance directly to the Upper Bracket Final. The losers move to the Lower Bracket Quarter-Finals.

• The winner of the Upper Bracket Final advances to the Grand Finals

• The loser moves to the Lower Bracket Final

• Qatar, which enters the competition at this stage and did not participate in the Qualifiers, is seeded as the #5 ranked team.

• The loser of the Upper Bracket Semi-Final between Rank #1 and Rank #4 will face Qatar in the next round.

• The loser of the Upper Bracket Semi-Final between Rank #2 and Rank #3 receives a bye for this round and advances directly to the Lower Bracket Semi-Finals.

• Teams that won in the Lower Bracket Quarter-Finals compete in the Lower Bracket Semi-Finals

• The winner of the Lower Bracket Semi-Finals advances to face the Lower Bracket Finals

• The loser of the Lower Bracket Semi-Finals is eliminated from the competition.

The game between:

- the loser of the Upper Bracket Semi-Finals, and - the winner of the Lower Bracket Finals.

determines the second team that advances to the Grand Finals

• The winner of the Grand Finals is crowned the Middle East Champion.

• Teams are only eliminated after two losses.

• Every team has a second chance to remain in the competition after losing one match.