FOOTBALL – Bahrain’s senior men’s football national team wrapped up their local training gathering last night ahead of their departure today for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to compete in the 27th Gulf Cup.
The eight-nation regional competition, organised by the Gulf Football Federation (GFF) and recognised by Fifa, kicks off this Wednesday with the Bahrainis carrying the tag of defending champions.
The kingdom’s squad trained for the last time in the kingdom yesterday at the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) pitches at Isa Sports City in Riffa under the supervision of head coach Dragan Talajic and his staff.
The Croatian has been getting the team ready with daily practices over the past week, and during the weekend the nationals entered a closed camp at Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa.
Bahrain are in Group B for the tournament’s preliminary round alongside Qatar, the UAE, and Yemen. Group A is composed of Iraq, Oman, Kuwait, and hosts Saudi.
They kick off their bid to repeat as champions against the Qataris on Thursday, scheduled for a 9pm kick-off.
Play officially gets underway on Wednesday with Iraq taking on Oman at 5.30pm followed by Kuwait going up against hosts Saudi at 9pm.
Following their opener, the Bahrainis will then face off with the UAE in their next assignment on Sunday next week, also at 9pm, after which they complete this stage against Yemen on September 30, kicking off at 8.30pm.
All times are Bahrain, and all of their three contests will be played at Jeddah’s Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium.
The Bahrainis will be hoping to finish amongst their group’s top two in order to advance to the semi-finals, slated for October 3.
The final will then be held on October 6 at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Talajic has a 26-player squad for their Gulf Cup title-defence. A majority of his call-ups were also part of the national team that secured their historic title triumph in the previous edition held in December of 2024 and January of 2025 in Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Bahrain won the coveted trophy for the second time then, after defeating Oman 2-1 in a thrilling final, adding to their maiden crown in 2019.
Bahrain’s roster includes Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Komail Al Aswad, Mahdi Abduljabbar, Ali Madan, Mahdi Humaidan, Sayed Dhiya Saeed, Abdulla Alkhalasi, Waleed Al Hayyam, Amine Benaddi, Jassim Al Shaikh, Abbas Al Asfoor, Hamad Shamsan, Hussain Abdulkarim, Ahmed Rabea, Hassan Alkarani, Omar Saber, Vincent Emmanuel, Sayed Mahdi Baqer, Hashem Sayed Issa, Mohammed Alrumaihi, Ebrahim Alkhattal, Mohammed Abdulqayoom, Ali Aldoseri, and goalkeepers Ebrahim Luthfallah, Omar Salem and Mohammed Elgharably.
Tickets for the tournament are now available via the GFF’s official ticketing website the-gff.com/tickets and through the GFF Tickets app.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh