Nasser 9 preparations go on

Manama: Preparations continue ahead of the Nasser 9 Football Tournament and the second edition of the Nasser bin Hamad Ramadan Sports and Games Under the patronage of HH Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, representative of His Majesty the King for Charity Works and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee.

Teams are busy in training, playing practice matches and recruiting players ahead of the 16-team tournament which gets underway on June 2 at Khalifa SportsCity in Isa Town.

The Batelco Dreams team under coach Shaikh Salman bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa and assisted by national coach Moosa Mubarak have recruited three professionals most notably Ahmed Al Basha.

Meanwhile, Victorious under director of Seed Mahmood Riad Mattar have contracted former national team retired international Mohammed Hussein to its squad.

The tournament format features four groups of four playing round-robin from June 2 to 13, with the top two in each qualifying for the quarter finals on June 15 and 16, with the semi-finals set for June 18 and the final on June 20.

All matches will be played at Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town.

Tournament draw:

Group A: Victorious, Nomas, Suqoor Al Bahrain, Al-Ameed.

Group B: Al Fakhar  (Defending champions), Al-Wihda, Galaticos, Batelco Dreams.

Group C: Team Forever, Al-Nuwayef, Majestic Cars, Fast Link.

Group D: Gunners United (last year runners-up), Al Zilzal, Fiesta, Falcons.