After more than 35 years, Iraq hosted the first international competition on its land, and Basra applauded its success.

One of the international competitions that attracts a significant public turnout of fans and supporters from both inside and outside Iraq is the Arab Gulf Football Championship, now in its 25th season.

Every day, hundreds of thousands of spectators travel to Basra to witness games played in the Al-Minaa and Al-Nakhla stadiums. A stampede to get into the stadiums, freezing temperatures, and heavy rain all accompanied the football competition.

Since the competition started in 14/1, the Iraqi Red Crescent has stationed ambulances and awareness teams in this huge public gathering place to offer first aid services, as well as stretcher-inside-the-stadium evacuation services and ambulances for the injured who need to be transported to medical facilities.
According to Dr. Ali Al-Musawi, director of the health department at the IRCS,” The IRCS teams have provided emergency and evacuation services with stretchers inside the stadium and ambulances for the injured who need evacuation to health centers, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and the sports city administration in Basra over a period of 15 days”.

Dr.Ali has added that 13 ambulances participated with their cadres of 60 first responders, in addition to deploying more than 150 paramedics with stretchers and first aid bags among the masses to treat injuries, in addition to educating the audience on protection from infection with diseases.

The health department has also stated that the number of beneficiaries of field ambulatory services is (2350), while more than (900) cases were transported by ambulances and more than (1254) cases by stretchers.

The IRCS teams have provided health awareness services for the audience on Basra Corniche and in the vicinity of the stadiums, which included lectures on the dangers of communicable diseases, the spread of epidemics and their prevention, and the dangers of drug abuse as well as drugs and its dangers, also the establishment of recreational activities, gifts for families and children, and the distribution of more than (3000) snacks.

The number of beneficiaries of health services reached (21,530), while the number of beneficiaries of psychosocial support services reached 3,650 beneficiaries, and the work of IRCS teams was continuous before, during and after the end of the matches, as the teams after the end of the matches, clean the stands from waste to maintain the cleanliness of environment.