FOOTBALL – THREE of Bahrain’s overseas-based professional players have arrived in the kingdom to join the football national team in gearing up for their upcoming joint-qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027.
The senior men’s squad kicked off their local gathering last week under head coach Dragan Talajic with only their Bahrain-based players participating.
Mahdi Humaidan and Mohammed Jassim Marhoon then joined them earlier this week from their club duty with Al Nasr of Oman and Kuwait SC of Kuwait, respectively, while Abdulla Yusuf has also already arrived in Bahrain from FK Mlada Boleslav in the Czech Republic and will begin practising with the national team from today.
Ali Madan still has one game to play with his club, Ajman of the UAE, on Saturday, after which he will join the Bahraini internationals’ training.
Bahrain are set to play their final two games in the continental joint-qualifiers’ second round. They first take on Yemen at home on June 6, and then play the UAE in Dubai on June 11.
Talajic’s other call-ups include Komail Al Aswad, Jassim Al Shaikh, Sayed Mohammed Jaafar, Ismaeel Abdullatif, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Waleed Al Hayyam, Abdulwahab Al Malood, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Hussain Abdulkarim, Ahmed Al Sherooqi, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Ebrahim Luthfallah, Ammar Mohammed, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Hamad Al Shamsan, Mohammed Adel, Mohammed Al Banna, Hazza Ali, Ali Haram, Moses Atede, Mahdi Abduljabbar, and Amine Benaddi.
The Bahrainis head into their upcoming fixtures currently second in Group H with nine points, behind only the undefeated Emiratis, who have a maximum 12 points. Yemen are third on three points while Nepal are last with zero. The nationals need only one more point to ensure their place in the next stage of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying, which would also secure their place in the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
Round three of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers will feature 18 teams, to be divided into three groups of six. This phase will be played from September of this year to June of 2025, with the top two teams from each division booking their tickets to the FIFA World Cup 2026. The third and fourth-ranked squads will move on to play in a fourth round of qualification.
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