Bahrain kick off final qualifiers’ lead-up

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team kicked off their local training gathering last night in the final lead-up to their continental qualifiers this coming week-and-a-half for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The Bahrainis are set to play against Yemen on Thursday at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City in Abha, Saudi Arabia.

They then go up against the UAE at the National Stadium in Riffa on 21 November.

Thursday’s contest is scheduled for a 9pm kick-off, Bahrain time, while the Bahrainis’ ensuing home match will get underway at 6.30pm.

The nationals have begun their final preparations under the supervision of head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.

There are five rounds in the FIFA World Cup qualification format for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which will have eight teams book their tickets to the global showcase, plus potentially another following an inter-confederation play-off.

Bahrain are directly in the second round of qualifiers in Group H with the UAE, Yemen and Nepal.

There are 36 nations in this stage, divided into nine groups of four.

The teams will play against each other on a home-and-away basis.

The nine group winners and group runners-up advance to the third round. In addition to this, they will also automatically qualify for the AFC Asian Cup 2027.

After Bahrain’s upcoming matches this month, the nationals only resume their qualification bid next year.

They take on Nepal on 21 March, and then face off with the Nepalese again on 26 March. They then face Yemen on 6 June, before completing this stage against the UAE on 11 June.

Pizzi has called up 26 of Bahrain’s biggest names for the upcoming qualifiers.

The team includes Ali Madan, Mohammed Marhoon, Abdulla Yusuf, Moses Atede, Mahdi Humaidan, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Al Hardan, Abdulkarim Al Fardan, Ali Hassan, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Hussain Al Aker, Komail Al Aswad, Jassim Al Shaikh, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Hazza Ali, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Amine Hasan, Waleed Al Hayyam, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Mubarak Mohammed, Ebrahim Luthfallah, Abdulla Al Hashash, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Mohammed Abdulwahab and Ebrahim Al Wali. Aside from FIFA World Cup qualification, Bahrain are also gearing up for the next edition of the AFC Asian Cup, to be held in Doha in January of next year.

These are the national team’s first official games under Pizzi.