HANDBALL – Bahrain’s Al Najma have bolstered their roster with a number of key signings – including three European professionals – for the upcoming Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship 2026.
The prestigious Asian Handball Federation (AHF) tournament will be taking place in Sabah Al Salem, Kuwait, from Saturday until June 15.
It will be the competition’s 28th edition, and it will feature eight leading handball outfits from across the continent.
The championship will also serve as a qualifier for the 19th IHF Men’s Handball Club World Championship, with the winner securing direct qualification for the International Handball Federation (IHF) event, scheduled to be held in Egypt in October later this year.
Najma are taking part in Kuwait having been crowned champions of the 2024-25 Khalid bin Hamad Bahrain Handball League.
The Bahrainis already boast some of the kingdom’s top talents on their roster, including Mohammed Habib Ahmed, Mujtaba Al Zaimour, Hasan Madan, Ahmed Fadhul, Komail Mahfoudh, Mohammed Abdulredha, Mahdi Saad, Mishari Ebrahim, and Sayed Ali Basem, among others.
They have greatly boosted their squad for the Asian tournament with the addition of at least five star players.
Najma confirmed last night that they have picked up, on loan, Al Shabab star Jassim Khamis and Al Dair goalkeeper Hesham Issa, while also having signed Uros Mitrovic from Serbia, Radojica Cepic from Montenegro, and Daniel Neves from Portugal as their pro players.
The kingdom’s representatives in this year’s Asian Men’s Club League Handball Championship will be guided by a new face on the sidelines, with Abdulrahman Mohamed having been named as their new head coach for this event, following the recent departure of Ali Al Falahi, who guided them to their national title in 2024-25.
The Bahrainis are set to feature in Group B of the competition’s preliminary round along with Khaleej Club from Saudi Arabia, Al Arabi SC from Qatar, and home side Kuwait Sports Club. Group A is composed of Burgan SC from Kuwait, Sharjah SC from the UAE, Al Duhail from Qatar, and CHA from China.
Najma will open their title bid against Khaleej on Saturday at 4pm.
They then take on Arabi the following day at 2pm, before hitting the court for their concluding fixture against Kuwait on Tuesday at 6pm.
Following the single round-robin, the seeds for the knockout stages will be determined, and all teams will advance to the cross quarter-finals – with the match-ups generated by the group rankings. The winners will then move on to semis, after which those victors will clash for gold and the losers for bronze.
There will also be classification games to place fifth through eighth on the final standings.
All games will be played at Kuwait’s Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Salim Al Sabah Covered Halls Complex.
Najma are gunning for their third continental title, having been crowned Asian club champions twice in the past, including in the 2023 and 2017 editions.
They had also won the silver medals twice in 2022 and 2015, and captured bronze once in 2001.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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