Bahrain to kick off Antonio Pizzi era

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team kick off their first training gathering under new head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi this evening.  Their maiden session under the renowned Argentinian tactician is scheduled for a 7pm start at the Bahrain Football Association pitches in Riffa.

Pizzi has named 30 players to the squad for this period. They include overseas-based professionals Ali Madan from Ajman Club in the UAE, Mohammed Marhoon from Kuwait SC in Kuwait, and Abdulla Yusuf from FK Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic.

The others are Mohammed Adel, Ahmed Bughammar, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Mohammed Al Hardan, Mahdi Humaidan and Mahdi Abdul-Jabbar from reigning Bahrain league champions Al Khaldiya.

Called up from Riffa are Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Sayed Redha Issa, Jassim Al Shaikh, Ali Haram, Komail Al Aswad and Ali Hasan. Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Hussain Jameel, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Amine Hasan, Hamza Al Juban, Waleed Al Hayyam, Mubarak Mohammed and Ahmed Al Sherooqi are from Muharraq; while Ammar Mohammed, Ahmed Nabeel, Ahmed Moussa and Ibrahim Al Khattal have been selected from Manama.

The squad list is completed by Ebrahim Lutfhallah and Abbas Al Asfoor from Ahli; and Talal Al Sherooqi from Hidd. Bahrain are gearing up for an important period in the coming months, as they kick off their continental qualification campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup this November.

They will then compete in the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup in Doha in January of next year. The Bahrainis are gathering locally until 17 August. They will then travel to Serbia, where they will conduct an overseas training camp under Pizzi’s supervision until 2 September.

From there, the nationals will fly directly to Dubai and continue their training programme until 13 September. During this period, the Bahrainis will play at least two international friendlies against yet-to-be-determined opponents.