FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S senior men’s football national team will play two international friendlies next month as part of an overseas training camp that will be held in Türkiye.
The gathering in Istanbul is scheduled for March 22 to 31. During this period, the Bahrainis will face off with their counterparts from Uganda on March 26 and then take on Kyrgyzstan on March 30.
This was announced yesterday by the Bahrain Football Association.
The tune-up games are part of the nationals’ preparations for their upcoming competitions, and they are to be held during Fifa’s international match calendar, which runs through the same dates of the camp.
More details of the contests as well as the roster of national team head coach Dragan Talajic for their Turkish foray are expected to be revealed in due course.
Uganda are currently two places higher than Bahrain on the Fifa World Ranking in 88th. They are also 17th best amongst national teams in the Confederation Africaine de Football. Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, are lower than Bahrain on the world rankings in 103rd. They are 18th in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Bahrain are currently 90th in the world and 13th in the continent.
The two friendlies will be the first action for the kingdom’s side since the Fifa Arab Cup 2025, held last December in Doha, Qatar.
Amongst the major tournaments Bahrain are scheduled to take part in over the next year are the 27th Gulf Cup – which they will be entering as defending champions – and the AFC Asian Cup 2027.
This year’s Gulf Cup, organised by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) and also known as ‘Khaleeji 27’, is scheduled for September and October and it will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the participation of eight teams – the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Yemen, hosts Saudi, and Bahrain.
Matches are to take place at Alinma Stadium in King Abdullah Sport City and Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium. The draw date for the tournament’s group stage has yet to be announced by the AGCFF.
Meanwhile, the Bahrainis are one of 24 senior men’s squads who will be competing in the upcoming edition of the Asian Cup, to be held by the AFC from January to February next year across three cities in Saudi.
Bahrain are one of 20 nations to already book their places in the continental competition, with another four to be determined next month. The draw for the Asian Cup’s preliminary round is scheduled for April 11 in Riyadh.
The other squads confirmed for the tournament are defending champions Qatar; former winners Australia, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, and Kuwait; and Uzbekistan, the UAE, Oman, Palestine, Jordan, China, Indonesia, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Singapore, and hosts Saudi, who are also ex-titlists.
Bahrain will be playing in the AFC event for the eighth time, including for the seventh straight edition. They made it to the round of 16 in the last tournament in 2023, while their best-ever finish was an incredible fourth place overall in 2004, when the field was just 16 teams.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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