Bahrain to host girls’ football tournament

The stage is set for the second West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U18 Girls’ Championship, taking place in Bahrain from Sunday until January 6 of next year. Seven teams are taking part in the competition, including defending champions Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait and hosts Bahrain.

The teams will be divided into two groups for the preliminary stage, at the end of which the top two will move on to the knockout semi-finals. Group A features Jordan, the UAE, Lebanon and Iraq while Group B features Palestine, Kuwait and hosts Bahrain. The draw for the group stages was held last month in Amman.

Matches are scheduled to take place at the Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town, replacing the originally set match venue at Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa Stadium at Muharraq Club. Three games are scheduled to be played each day. On day one, the UAE and Iraq face off at 2.30pm, followed by Lebanon and Jordan battling at 5.30pm.

Bahrain then play their first match against Kuwait starting at 8.30pm. The next play date will be on December 31, with Palestine and Kuwait facing off in the opening game, followed by Jordan battling Iraq and then the UAE taking on Lebanon. On January 2, which is the final day of the group stage, the UAE take on Jordan, Bahrain lock horns with Palestine and Lebanon play Iraq.

The final four will be held on January 4, and then the match for fifth place will be held the following evening. The gold and bronze medal games will then take place on January 6. Bahrain have been training hard for the competition.

They recently played a friendly match against their counterparts from Hong Kong, which finished in a deadlock, and they had also played a couple of tune-up games against Nepal, both of which they lost.