Bahrain futsal squad to face India, Iraq

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s national futsal team will be playing four international friendly matches this month at home. The games will be held as part of their preparations for the qualifiers of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024, which are to take place this October.

The Bahrainis will play two games apiece against the national futsal teams of India and Iraq. They will first take on the Indians on Saturday and Monday next week. That will mark the international debut for India’s national futsal team.

Bahrain then take on Iraq on 22 and 24 August. The nationals are in a tough Group F for qualification along with Kuwait, Timor-Leste and Brunei Darussalam. The matches are scheduled to be hosted in the Kingdom from 2 to 13 October.

Both India and Iraq are also in the qualifiers, with India in Group E alongside Tajikistan, Myanmar and Palestine; and Iraq in Group G with Uzbekistan, Malaysia and Cambodia. The Kingdom is one of the host venues for the eight groups in qualifying.

The Bahrainis are part of a 31-team field set to compete in the qualifiers. The eight group winners will earn automatic berths in next year’s AFC Futsal Asian Cup, along with the seven best-ranked runners-up and the host national team.

The Bahrain Football Association recently signed Brazilian Rafael Fogageiro as head coach of the national futsal team. Bahrain will be aiming to qualify for the AFC Futsal Asian Cup for only the fourth time in the competition’s history.

The nationals previously also played in the 2002, 2018 and 2022 tournaments, with their best finish in the 2018 event in Taiwan where they reached the quarter-finals. The competition also acts as the qualification for the FIFA Futsal World Cup, with five teams from the AFC booking a berth in the global competition, also to be held next year in September and October.