BAHRAIN senior men’s national football team will be holding an overseas training camp in Portugal this summer, the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) announced yesterday following a meeting of the national teams’ committee held at BFA headquarters in Riffa.
The meeting was chaired by BFA president and committee head Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.
The camp will be held from July 8 to 27 at a yet-to-be-disclosed location in Portugal.
Aside from Bahrain national team players, members from the Kingdom’s under-23 Olympic team will also be joining the camp. Shaikh Ali appointed committee member Mohammed Juma Bashir to oversee the arrangements for theis overseas trip.
It will be the first major training camp for Bahrain under recently signed head coach Helio Sousa, who himself hails from the Portuguese city of Setubal. Prior to signing with Bahrain, Sousa was in charge of Portugal’s youth national team from 2010.
BFA yesterday also announced the appointment Ahmed Issa as assistant in the coaching staff of Sousa.
Issa has in the past worked with several Bahraini club teams at various age levels, including Muharraq, Riffa and Budaiya.
The BFA describes Issa to be one of the most technically knowledgeable coaches in Bahrain and he holds many training certificates from the Asian Football Confederation as well as a diploma in professional football.
Bahrain’s Olympic team, under head coach Samir Ben Chammam, late on Wednesday night kicked off their training programme for their upcoming participation in the 2019 Toulon Tournament, which is also known as the Festival International “Espoirs” – Tournoi Maurice Revello.
Drills
It is scheduled to be held from June 1 to 15 across six cities in the southern French region of Provence.
Ben Chammam conducted drills with a group of 27 players called up to prepare for this prestigious competition. The training was held at the BFA pitches in Riffa.
The Bahrainis are joining the event as part of their preparations for the 2020 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Championship scheduled to take place next January and which also acts as the Asian qualifiers for the 2020 Summer Olympics.
&uuid=(email))