Muharraq Club player joins Borussia Moenchengladbach training

TDT | Manama                       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A milestone in Bahrain football history was achieved at the end of June with the first ever GCC-Bahrain player taking part in tryout training sessions in the German Bundesliga with the U23 team of Borussia Moenchengladbach.

It would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of important people in Germany and Bahrain.

The tryout was commonly organised by German soccer legend Winfried Schaefer, also player and coach of Borussia Moenchengladbach, Karlsruher SC, Rainer Bonhof, vice president of Borussia Moenchengladbach, Eugen Polanski, U23 coach, Moussa Gaspers of Sport Circus International, and HE Abdulla Abdulatif Abdulla, from the Bahrain Embassy to Germany in Berlin, on the German side; and Muharraq Club, Bahrain Football Association, General Sports Authority, Khalid Abdulrahman, Chairman and Founder of Sportnaa, Bahrain, the kingdom's first and only football agency, Kai Miethig, CEO of WAISTE, and the German Ambassador, HE Clemens Hach, on the Bahrain side.

On June 25, Khalid Abdulrahman and Mubarak Binahmed, a player of Muharraq Club, travelled to Germany for a four-day tryout session with the Borussia Moenchengladbach U23 team preparing for the 2023–24 season.

Equipped with a Borussia dress while participating in the different exercises, performance evaluations, and training sessions, Mubarak left a remarkable impression of his talent and capabilities on Eugen Polanski and the U23 team.

During the visit, Mubarak handed over a pennant of Muharraq Club as an official gift to Bonhof, and Abdulrahman gave the officials of Borussia Moenchengladbach a briefing about Bahrain, its history, the development of the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, and the Bahrain Football Association.

This visit was only the start of opportunities for future cooperation between Borussia Moenchengladbach and Muharraq Club, as an invitation was granted to Bonhof, representatives, and organisers of the tryout to visit Bahrain in December for meetings with Muharraq Club, the General Sports Authority, and the Bahrain Football Association.

During the coming visit, future cooperation between other German league teams and BFA shall be discussed and established to support the growth and development of Bahrain Football and the initiative of the Golden Generation under the patronage of HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, as well as to enhance the relationship between Bahrain and Germany in the field of sports and other possible sectors of cooperation.

In due course, a meeting will be held between GSA, BFA, and Muharraq Club to evaluate the trip and discuss further steps based on the initial visit in Germany and the planned visit of the German group to Bahrain.