Bahrain Olympic team set for West Asian football
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Bahrain’s under-23 Olympic football team are set to take on hosts Saudi Arabia and Syria in the opening round of this year’s West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship.
The tournament is to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, kicking off on 3 November and continuing until 15 November.
The Bahrainis, Saudis and Syrians are in Group B for the opening stage. Group A features Oman, Qatar and Lebanon.
The draw for the event was held at the WAFF headquarters in Amman.
According to the tournament system, the teams will play a single round-robin within their pools, after which the top two sides qualify for the semi-finals.
There will then be gold and bronze medal games.
This year’s tournament is the third edition of the WAFF under-23 competition.
Preparations
Bahrain’s Olympic national team are coached by Croatian tactician Dario Basic. They have been training locally recently in preparation for the upcoming event.
Last night, Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa visited the team at their practice and wished them the best in their upcoming tournament.
HH Shaikh Isa was accompanied by BOC secretary general Faris Al Kooheji, and his visit was in the presence of a number of Bahrain Football Association and Olympic team officials.
Bahrain open their campaign on match day one against Syria.
The nationals then have a rest on match day two, before taking on the host Saudis on match day three on 9 November.
The Bahrainis’ participation in the WAFF under-23 event is part of their preparations for the qualifiers of the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2024, which will be held next year.
The AFC U23 Asian Cup is the premier continental event for Olympic teams.
Bahrain have taken part in the tournament just once in the past in 2020, when they did not make it past the group stage.
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