FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN have named a 23-player squad that will compete in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U19 Championship later this month.
The roster was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Football Association (BFA), as the kingdom’s junior football national team steps up their final preparations for the regional competition, which takes place June 25 to July 5 in Taif, Saudi Arabia.
Twelve countries are taking part in the event, including Bahrain, the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Yemen, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and hosts Saudi Arabia. Albania are also in the fray, having been invited to compete by organisers as a non-WAFF entry. The draw for the preliminary round is scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
Bahrain’s roster for the tournament includes Ali Sanad, Ali Al Mahouzi, Ahmed Al Hamoud, Salman Al Saber, Muhannad Al Khalaqi, Ashraf Mubarak, Jamal Alkhalaqi, Issa Al Issa, Issa Al Khuzami, Abdulla Jamal, Ammar Al Basri, Ali Aman, Rashid Majeran, Muhannad Tarada, Abdulla Al Khalidi, Mohammed Hamada, Mohamed Ahmed, Khaled Al Khelaif, Yahya Al Asfour, Saud Mohsen, Sami Oudi, Ahmed Al Bari, Saif Al Buflasa.
Aside from the WAFF competition, Bahrain’s juniors are gearing up to compete in the AFC U20 Asian Cup 2025 Qualifiers from September 21 to 29. The nationals are in Group B along with Uzbekistan, Cambodia, Nepal and group hosts Chinese Taipei.
Bahrain are one of 45 participating nations, who will be divided into 10 groups, each of which will be held at a different location. At the end of a single round-robin, the 10 group winners and five best second-placed teams will book a ticket alongside hosts China to the AFC U20 Asian Cup 2025, to be held February 6 to 23 next year.
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