FOOTBALL – Bahrain kick off their campaign in the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U19 Championship against the UAE on Wednesday.
The WAFF released the schedule for the tournament’s preliminary round, which kicks off Tuesday in Taif, Saudi Arabia, and which will be played over six match days.
The Bahraini juniors are in Group C for this opening stage. Their game against the Emiratis is scheduled for a 5pm kick-off, Bahrain time, at King Fahd Sports City Stadium.
Their following assignment will be against Palestine on Friday next week at Okaz Club, and then they complete their preliminaries schedule on June 30 against Syria, also at Okaz.
Twelve nations are taking part in the competition. Group A is composed of hosts Saudi, Oman, Kuwait and Yemen; while Group B features two-time defending champions Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Albania, who have been invited to compete as a non-WAFF entry.
The kingdom’s junior national team are already in Taif and have begun their preparations in the final lead-up to action. Coached by Bahraini tactician Ali Sanqour, they have a 23-player squad that 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 and Saif Al Buflasa.
This year’s WAFF U19 Championship is its third edition. Iraq won both the previous times it was held, including in Basra and Erbil in 2021, and in Palestine in 2019. Bahrain participated both times.
Aside from the WAFF competition, the Bahrainis 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 nations divided into 10 groups. Each group will hold their matches 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 from February 6 to 23 next year.
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