FOOTBALL – Bahrain’s international friendly match against Syria, originally scheduled for tomorrow during their ongoing training camp in Antalya, Türkiye, has been called off, the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) announced last night.
The BFA said in a statement posted on social media that it had received an official apology from the Syrian Football Association stating that they cannot go through with the planned tune-up due to travel restrictions faced by their senior men’s football national team.
The BFA added that, because of this, they will now be looking into available options for a replacement game as they continue with their programme in Antalya.
The nationals have already arrived in Türkiye and have begun their on-pitch preparations under the supervision of head coach Dragan Talajic.
Their friendly against Syria was to follow their first clash in Europe against Georgia last Friday, played in Tbilisi.
They lost 0-2.
Bahrain are gearing up for two major tournaments in the coming months – the 27th Gulf Cup in September and October of this year, which they are entering as defending champions, and the AFC Asian Cup 2027, slated for January and February next year.
The senior men’s national team’s roster in Europe includes 27 players.
They are Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Komail Al Aswad, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Waleed Al Hayyam, Abdulla Alkhalasi, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Saleh Al Zubaidi, Hassan Alkarani, Hashem Sayed Issa, Ebrahim Alkhattal, Ahmed Bughammar, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Ali Al Doseri, Hussain Abdulkarim, Ahmed Rabeea, Ahmed Dhiya, Vincent Emmanuel, Abbas Al Asfoor, Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Sayed Mahdi Sharaf, and Omar Saber, along with goalkeepers Omar Salem, Mohammed Elgharably, Abdulla Efrih Alahmed, and Godwill Chia Ndang.
This year’s Gulf Cup, also known as ‘Khaleeji 27’, is to be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain are in Group B of the preliminary round along with Qatar, the UAE, and Yemen.
In the AFC Asian Cup 2027, which is also to be hosted by Saudi, Bahrain are in Group B for the preliminaries along with Uzbekistan, North Korea, and Jordan.
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