FOOTBALL – Bahrain named a 27-player senior men’s football national team yesterday for their final preparations leading up to the upcoming Fifa Arab Cup 2025.
The call-ups of head coach Dragan Talajic were announced yesterday by the Bahrain Football Association (BFA).
The squad list includes many of the kingdom’s international mainstays, such as Waleed Al Hayyam, Amine Benaddi, Abdulla Al Khalasi, Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Mahdi Humaidan, Ali Madan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Komail Al Aswad, Mahdi Abduljabbar, and goalkeeper Ebrahim Luthfallah.
The rest of the roster features Hussain Al Eker, Ahmed Bughammar, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahdi Sharaf, Sayed Al Mosawi, Hazza Ali, Mohammed Adel, Sayed Redha Isa, Jassim Al Shaikh, Omar Saber, Hussain Abdulkarim, Sayed Hashem Issa, Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Ebrahim Al Khattal, Abdulla Al Hashash, and goalkeepers Mohammed Algharabli and Omar Salem.
The nationals kicked off their local training programme last night at the BFA pitches in Riffa. They will also have a busy schedule in the next two weeks ahead of the Fifa Arab Cup 2025.
Bahrain must first play in a qualifying match later this month to secure a berth in the tournament’s group stage, which will be held in Doha, Qatar.
The Bahrainis will be taking on their counterparts from Djibouti on November 26 in a one-off qualification contest at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari capital. The game is scheduled for a 4pm kick-off, Bahrain time.
Prior to this, Bahrain will take on Somalia in an international friendly match at home, slated for Monday next week at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The Somalis are also gearing up to play in their Fifa Arab Cup qualifier against Oman, also on November 26, at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in the Qatari capital.
Somalia are presently 202nd on the Fifa World Ranking and 52nd amongst senior men’s national teams in the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Djibouti are just ahead of them, ranked 196th in the world and 51st in the CAF. Bahrain are 90th worldwide and 13th in the Asian Football Confederation.
Should the Bahrainis book their seat in the Fifa Arab Cup, they will be in Group D where they will join defending champions Algeria, Iraq, and either Lebanon or Sudan, who also play in a qualifier on November 26.
Group A features competition hosts Qatar, Tunisia, Syria or South Sudan, and Palestine or Libya; Group B is composed of Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman or Somalia, and Yemen or Comoros; and Group C includes the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and either Kuwait or Mauritania.
This year’s Fifa Arab Cup will be its 11th edition and second under its current format organised by Fifa.
The last edition in 2021, also held in Doha, saw the Algerians claim the title after defeating Tunisia 2-0 after extra-time.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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