FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S under-23 Olympic football team will be taking part in a four-nation international tournament in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
The competition, which also features the Olympic sides of Oman, Syria, and hosts Kyrgyzstan, is scheduled to kick off tomorrow.
The nationals are competing in the event as part of their preparations for the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers. They will be one of 44 sides who will be competing in the qualifying competition this September, in which each of the 11 groups is to be held in a different centralised location.
The Bahrainis are already in Bishkek, having arrived there late last week ahead of the championship.
They are scheduled to open their campaign against Oman tomorrow before taking on Syria on Sunday. They then play their final game against the home side on Wednesday next week. All games are scheduled to kick off at 5pm, Bahrain time.
Olympic team head coach Ali Abdulmajeed has selected a 26-player squad for the tournament.
The roster includes Abdulla Freah, Ashraf Mubarak, Mohammed Khalifa, Jawad Ali, Bader Al Asam, Salman Younis, Mohammed Al Shehani, Abdulla Al Qassab, Hashem Khulaifat, Issa Abdulla, Abdulrahman Al Khayyat, Rashid Mujiran, Abdulrahman Aboud, Mahmood Al Bannai, Ramzi Abdulla, Abdulla Al Obaidli, Hassan Sameer, Ali Tarada, Saud Mohsen, Mohammed Ahmed, Ali Sahwan, Salem Al Dosari, Khaled Khalaf, Mubarak Mohammed, Saad Al Attar, and Sayed Ahmed Alwadaie.
The Bahrainis have been training daily under Abdulmajeed’s supervision since arriving in Kyrgyzstan.
In the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, each of the 11 group winners and the four best best-ranked runners-up will book their tickets to the competition proper and join hosts Saudi Arabia, who are staging the event for the first time.
Bahrain are in Group H alongside Qatar, India, and Brunei Darussalam. Their games will be played in Doha. Group A features hosts Jordan, Turkmenistan, Chinese Taipei, and Bhutan; Group B is composed of hosts Myanmar, Japan, Kuwait, and Afghanistan; Group C consists of hosts Vietnam, Yemen, Singapore, and Bangladesh; Group D comprises hosts China, Australia, Timor-Leste, and Northern Mariana Islands; Group E features hosts Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Palestine, and Sri Lanka; Group F consists of hosts Thailand, Malaysia, Lebanon, and Mongolia; Group G is composed of hosts Cambodia, Iraq, Oman, and Pakistan; Group I comprises hosts UAE, Iran, Hong Kong, and Guam; Group J features hosts Indonesia, South Korea, Laos, and Macau; and Group K is composed of hosts Tajikistan, Syria, the Philippines, and Nepal.
Next year’s AFC U23 Asian Cup will be its seventh edition. Bahrain have qualified for the tournament just once in the past – in the 2020 event held in Bangkok, Thailand, where they finished last in Group A during the opening stage.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
Panel
COMPETITION SCHEDULE
(All matches set for 5pm kick-offs, Bahrain time)
TOMORROW: Oman vs Bahrain (Dostuk Arena, Besh-Kungey), Kyrgyzstan vs Syria (Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek)
SUNDAY: Syria vs Bahrain (Dostuk Arena, Besh-Kungey), Kyrgyzstan vs Oman (Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek)
WEDNESDAY: Oman vs Syria (Dostuk Arena, Besh-Kungey), Kyrgyzstan vs Bahrain (Dolen Omurzakov Stadium, Bishkek)
&uuid=(email))