FOOTBALL – THREE foreign-born, Bahrain-based football stars are being tipped to join the kingdom’s senior men’s football national team in the near future, according to a top official.
Bahrain Football Association (BFA) board member and national team supervisor Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa Al Khalifa revealed that Muharraq Club’s Edimar Ribeiro da Costa Junior and Soufiane Saeed Mahrouk, along with Riffa Club’s Vinicius Vargas dos Santos, are among the players who could be eligible to join Bahrain’s ranks in the coming period as the BFA aims to boost the senior men’s squad.
All three attacking talents have been playing in the Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League the past few seasons and have become leading fan-favourites while helping lead their respective teams to various successes.
Speaking on a YouTube episode entitled ‘The Red Road to 2030’ of Bahrain Social-Sport News (BSN), a popular local media out- let specialising in football, Shaikh Ahmed revealed that there is a timeline planned by the BFA for the players to join the senior men’s national team.
This could be as early as the first half of next year, in time for them to be part of Bahrain’s squad ahead of the qualifiers for the Fifa World Cup 2030, which kick off in late 2027.
Shaikh Ahmed listed da Costa Junior, Mahrouk, and dos Santos as the stars most likely to first transition to rep- resenting Bahrain internation- ally, although other players are also being considered.
Da Costa Junior and dos Santos are both natives of Brazil, while Mahrouk is originally from Morocco.
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