Bahrain set for World Cup qualifiers

TDT | Manama    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain’s senior men’s national football team depart for Abha, Saudi Arabia, today for their opening continental qualifying match for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The nationals take on Yemen in their Group H contest tomorrow, scheduled for a 9pm kick-off, Bahrain time, at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City in Abha.

The Bahrainis are in the same pool as the UAE and Nepal in this second round of qualification under the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The fixtures are also qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup 2027. Tomorrow’s fixture is the first of two games this month.

They next take on the UAE on Tuesday next week at home at the National Stadium in Riffa. Prior to their departure today, the national team met with Bahrain Football Association (BFA) president Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, BFA vice-president His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Isa Al Khalifa, BFA secretary general Rashid Al Zoubi, and other officials.

Shaikh Ali encouraged the players to give their best in their coming matches, and also stressed that the BFA is giving their full support for their success.

The Bahrainis have been training over the past few days locally under the supervision of head coach Juan Antonio Pizzi.

Pizzi had originally called up 26 of Bahrain’s biggest names for the upcoming qualifiers, but has recently made four additions.

The new selections include Salem Hussain, Hussain Abdulkareem, Hamad Al Doseri and Jassim Khelaif.

They are joining a squad that already 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.

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

Thirty-six nations are directly in this second 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.

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.