Bahrain national football team

The Bahrain national football team (Arabic: منتخب البحرين لكرة القدم‎) represents Bahrain in international football and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association, which was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the World Cup, but have twice come within one match of doing so. Bahrain won the FIFA's most improved team award in 2004, and finished fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup, beating Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals but losing to Japan in the semi-finals 4–3. Bahrain then lost to Iran in the third-place match, thus finishing in fourth place overall. Bahrain had a golden year in 2019, winning both the WAFF Championship and the Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time, under the stewardship of Hélio Sousa.

Bahrain

Nickname(s)	محاربي ديلمون (Muharabi Dilmun, Dilmun's Warriors) غواصين اللؤلؤ (Ghawaseen Al-Lulu, The Pearl Divers) الأحمر (The Reds)
Association	Bahrain Football Association
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Head coach	Hélio Sousa
Captain	Sayed Mohammed Jaffer
Most caps	Salman Isa (156)[1]
Top scorer	Ismail Abdul-Latif (42)[1]
Home stadium	Bahrain National Stadium
FIFA code	BHR
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	97 (10 December 2020)[2]
Highest	44 (September 2004)
Lowest	139 (March 2000)
First international
Bahrain 4–4 Kuwait  (Baghdad, Iraq; 2 April 1966)
Biggest win
Bahrain 10–0 Indonesia  (Riffa, Bahrain; 29 February 2012)
Biggest defeat
Iraq 10–1 Bahrain  (Baghdad, Iraq; 5 April 1966)
Asian Cup
Appearances	6 (first in 1988)
Best result	Fourth place, (2004)
WAFF Championship
Appearances	4 (first in 2010)
Best result	Champions, (2019)

History

The 1959 national football team

Early time

Despite the first national team was founded in 1959, Bahraini team was only first officially assembled in 1966 where they played a friendly game against Kuwait, where they drew 4–4. At that time, despite being under British rule, Bahrain was given autonomy and they had utilized this opportunity to expand its football development. Nonetheless, Bahrain was regarded as a weaker side in the Gulf Arab region, where it constituted stronger Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and Kuwait. For this reason, Bahrain's international feat had been mostly limited in the Arabian Gulf Cup.

In 1988, Bahrain qualified to its first ever AFC Asian Cup, but finished bottom with only two draws in the 1988 AFC Asian Cup. Since then, Bahraini side remained neglected and less invested, despite its youth successes at the U-17 and U-20. Only by the end of the 20th century, Bahrain began to really emerge and would change the country's football history.

Rise

Bahrain managed a fine performance during 2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification and 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, the latter was the first time Bahrain reached the final round. Despite being unable to reach either of them, Bahrain managed one of their greatest football feats, by beating Iran in both qualifications 1–0 in Damascus in 2000 Asian Cup run, and 3–1 at home in 2002 World Cup run, which remains one of the most embarrassing defeats for Iranian football. This win, though mean less for Bahrain, did manage to pull Iran out from reaching a direct World Cup ticket and helped Saudi Arabia to qualify for 2002 FIFA World Cup, Iran later failed to qualify; Bahraini fans had waged Saudi flag as a response of this win, fueling tensions between Bahrain and Iran.[3]

2004 Asian Cup

The form of Bahrain in 2004 AFC Asian Cup was a complete stunning for many. In their just second appearance, Bahrain was drawn with mighty host China, neighbor Qatar and Southeast Asia's finest Indonesia. However, Bahrain went on undefeated at the group stage, including a famous 2–2 draw to China in Beijing, 1–1 to Qatar before trashed Indonesia 3–1 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Then, Bahrain overcame Uzbekistan on penalty shootout in the quarter-finals, having being held 2–2. Bahrain put up another astonishing performance against defending champions Japan, only lost 3–4 after extra time, before losing 2–4 to Iran in the third place game. This tournament would mark the rise of Bahrain as a serious competitor for football in Asia.

2006 World Cup

After Uzbekistan and Bahrain both finished third in their respective groups during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers, Bahrain entered a two-legged playoff with Uzbekistan, which they won on away goals with an aggregate score of 1–1. This allowed Bahrain to enter another two-legged playoff with the fourth-placed CONCACAF nation, (Trinidad and Tobago), for a spot in the World Cup. But a 0–1 Bahrain loss in Manama after a 1–1 draw in Port of Spain saw the CONCACAF nation go through.

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC Fourth Round play-offs:

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Uzbekistan	1–1 (a)	Bahrain	1–1	0–0

2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC – CONCACAF play-off) play-offs:

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bahrain	1–2	Trinidad and Tobago	1–1	0–1

2007 Asian Cup

Bahrain played in group D in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification group games. Bahrain fielded a side which was essentially the Olympic (under 23) team against Australia, and they lost 2–0. Bahrain qualified for the 2007 Asian Cup after defeating Kuwait in their last match. Bahrain were knocked out in the group stage via two losses against Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, despite a shock win against Korea Republic.

2010 World Cup

The Bahrain national football team playing Australia on 10 June 2009 in a World Cup qualifier

In the third round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Bahrain were drawn into group B along with Japan, Oman, and Thailand. They finished second overall to qualify to the final round, in which Bahrain finished third overall in their group, below Australia and Japan, but above Uzbekistan and Qatar. In the second leg of the playoff against Saudi Arabia to decide Asia's fifth best team, Bahrain drew 2–2 with Saudi Arabia after scoring in stoppage time which allowed them to go through on away goals, after drawing their home leg 0–0. They went on to play New Zealand in the final playoff in which a victory would qualify them for the World Cup, but after a goalless draw in Manama on 10 October 2009, Bahrain lost the return leg 1–0 in Wellington on 14 November 2009, missing out on qualification at the last hurdle for the second time running.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fifth Round play-offs:

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bahrain	(a) 2–2	Saudi Arabia	0–0	2–2

AFC 5th place v OFC winner play-offs:

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Bahrain	0–1	New Zealand	0–0	0–1

2014 World Cup

In the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Bahrain did considerably worse. In the third round, they were drawn against Indonesia, Iran and Qatar. Although they managed to defeat Indonesia both home and away, they also lost 6–0 by Iran away from home, and drew their other 3 games. Although they had a higher goal difference than Qatar, they needed an extra point to advance to the next round, or Qatar had to be beaten by Iran in the final round. If they had also drawn to Iran away from home, they would have advanced. But neither luck came to them, and their campaign ended in the third round, their worst result since the 1998 World Cup qualifiers.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Iran	6	3	3	0	17	5	+12	12		—	2–2	6–0	3–0
Qatar	6	2	4	0	10	5	+5	10		1–1	—	0–0	4–0
Bahrain	6	2	3	1	13	7	+6	9		1–1	0–0	—	10–0
Indonesia	6	0	0	6	3	26	−23	0		1–4	2–3	0–2	—

Source:

2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualifications

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers second round, Bahrain finished fourth in a group with Uzbekistan, North Korea, Philippines and Yemen. The poor performance of the Bahraini side caused huge public uproar over the team's ongoing decline, rocked the chair of manager Sergio Batista. He was eventually sacked and replaced by Czech youth coach Miroslav Soukup, who decided to revamp the team.

Later on, Bahrain participated in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where finished first in the third round in a group with Turkmenistan, Chinese Taipei and Singapore, to qualify to the next AFC Asian Cup. However, the team's performance was far from perfect. The team suffered a home draw to minnows Singapore, before getting humiliated by Chinese Taipei away 1–2 that was considered as a shock, since Taiwan is not a football nation. This defeat also prompted Bahrain's main star, Ismail Abdullatif, to retire from the team.

Bahrain managed some promising performance during this deteriorating era, reaching semi-finals of the 23rd Arabian Gulf Cup held in Kuwait.

2019–present: Asian Cup; WAFF Championship and Gulf Cup champions

At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Bahrain was grouped with India, Thailand and hosts United Arab Emirates. The Bahrainis managed a promising early performance when they faced the hosts, scored a goal lead in 78', but was eventually held 1–1 following an unclear penalty decision by the Jordanian referee Adham Makhadmeh. However, Bahrain suffered a blasting loss to Thailand 0–1, leaving the team flounder despite its earlier performance. In the final match against India, which the Indians only required a draw to progress, Bahrain however managed to get a needed penalty in injury time, where Jamal Rashid turned hero as Bahrain won the fixture 1–0 to seal the team into the knockout stage for the only second times ever, and eliminated the Indians from the competition. The Bahraini side then played its own round of sixteen match, where they lost 2–1 to South Korea after extra time. This was considered as a major success for Bahraini football, and was considered to be the end of the country's football misfortune that endured since 2010s.

Afterwards, Bahrain managed to win two competitions for the first time, after defeating both Iraq and Saudi Arabia, 1–0 under the leadership of Hélio Sousa against all odds, in the WAFF Championship and Gulf Cup respectively.[4][5] Bahrain also defeated Iran 1-0 in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification Round 2, delivering a major upset in the qualifying process.

Competition records

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978	Did not qualify									4	1	0	3	4	6
1982										4	1	0	3	1	6
1986										4	1	2	1	8	6
1990	Withdrew									Withdrew
1994	Did not qualify									8	3	3	2	9	6
1998										4	1	0	3	3	9
2002										14	7	4	3	17	13
2006										16	5	6	5	21	14
2010										20	7	7	6	19	17
2014										6	2	3	1	13	7
2018										6	2	0	4	7	9
2022	To be determined
2026	To be determined
Total	−	0/21	−	−	−	−	−	−		86	30	25	31	102	93

Asian Cup record

AFC Asian Cup Finals record										AFC Asian Cup qualification
Hosts / year	Result	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA		GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1956	Did not enter									Did not enter
1960
1964
1968
1972	Did not qualify									4	2	0	2	8	4
1976	Withdrew									Withdrew
1980	Withdrew after qualifying									3	0	0	3	0	5
1984	Withdrew									Withdrew
1988	Group stage	9th	4	0	2	2	1	3		3	2	1	0	4	0
1992	Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	1	5
1996	Withdrew									Withdrew
2000	Did not qualify									6	3	0	3	6	6
2004	Fourth place	4th	6	1	3	2	13	14		6	4	1	1	14	9
2007	Group stage	13th	3	1	0	2	3	7		4	1	1	2	3	6
2011	Group stage	11th	3	1	0	2	6	5		6	4	0	2	12	6
2015	Group stage	12th	3	1	0	2	3	5		6	4	2	0	7	1
2019	Round of 16	14th	4	1	1	2	3	4		14	7	1	6	25	13
2023	To be determined									5	2	3	0	3	1
Total	Fourth place	6/17	23	5	6	12	29	38	54	27	6	21	80	55

Arabian Gulf Cup record

Arabian Gulf Cup record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1970	Runners-up	3	1	1	1	3	4
1972	Record annulled
1974	Group stage	2	0	0	2	1	8
1976	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	9	15
1979	Fourth place	6	2	2	2	8	9
1982	Runners-up	5	3	1	1	10	7
1984	Fifth place	6	1	2	3	3	6
1986	Fifth place	6	1	4	1	4	5
1988	Fourth place	6	3	0	3	4	4
1990	Third place	4	1	2	1	1	1
1992	Runners-up	5	3	0	2	6	4
1994	Third place	5	1	3	1	5	6
1996	Fifth place	5	0	2	3	4	8
1998	Fifth place	5	0	3	2	3	6
2002	Fourth place	5	1	2	2	4	6
2003	Runners-up	6	4	1	1	13	3
2004	Third place	5	2	2	1	10	6
2007	Semi-finals	4	1	1	2	4	5
2009	Group stage	3	1	0	2	3	4
2010	Group stage	3	0	1	2	4	7
2013	Fourth place	5	1	1	3	4	9
2014	Group stage	3	0	2	1	0	3
2017	Semi-finals	4	1	2	1	3	3
2019	Champions	5	2	2	1	7	6
Total	24/24	107	32	34	41	113	135

Arab Nations Cup

Arab Nations Cup record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Did not enter
1964
1966	Group stage	4	0	1	3	7	22
1985	Runners-up	4	1	2	1	4	3
1988	Group stage	4	0	3	1	2	3
1992	Did not enter
1998	Withdrew
2002	Runners-up	6	3	1	2	8	5
2012	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	8
Total	Best: Runners-up	21	4	7	10	22	41

Asian Games

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1951	Did not enter
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974	15th place	3	0	0	3	1	15
1978	14th place	3	0	0	3	1	12
1982	Did not enter
1986	12th place	3	1	1	1	4	5
1990	Did not enter
1994	10th place	4	1	2	1	6	5
1998	Did not enter
2002–present	See Bahrain national under-23 football team
Total	4/13	14	3	3	8	12	37

Pan Arab Games

Pan Arab Games record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1953	Did not enter
1957
1961
1965
1976
1985
1997
1999	First round	2	0	0	2	0	6
2007	Did not enter
2011	Champions	4	3	1	0	9	3
Total	2/10	6	3	1	2	9	9

WAFF Championship record

WAFF Championship record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2000	Did not participate
2002
2004
2007
2008
2010	Group stage	2	1	0	1	2	3	–1
2012	Fourth place	5	2	2	1	3	2	+1
2014	Third place	4	0	3	1	0	1	–1
2019	Champions	4	3	1	0	3	0	+3
Total	4/9	15	6	6	3	8	6	+2

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Previous matches

  Win   Draw   Loss

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result	Bahrain scorers
2020
7 November 2020	Police Officers' Club Stadium, Dubai	Tajikistan	Friendly	1–0 W	44' Al Romaihi
12 November 2020	Theyab Awana Stadium, Dubai	Lebanon	Friendly	3–1 W	53' Isa, 58' Al Aswad, 82' Marhoon
16 November 2020	Police Officers' Club Stadium, Dubai	United Arab Emirates	Friendly	3–1 W	75' (p) Marhoon; 82', 86' Al Romaihi

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup.
Caps and goals updated as of 2 August 2019.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Sayed Jaffer	25 August 1985	115	0	Al-Muharraq
	GK	Sayed Shubbar Alawi	11 August 1985	19	0	Al-Riffa
	GK	Hamed Al-Doseri	24 July 1989	7	0	Al-Hala
	DF	Waleed Al Hayam	3 February 1991	60	0	Al-Muharraq
	DF	Abdulla Al-Haza'a	19 July 1990	41	0	East Riffa
	DF	Ahmed Abdulla	1 April 1987	20	3	Al-Najma
	DF	Sayed Redha Isa	7 August 1994	13	0	Al-Riffa
	DF	Sayed Baqer	14 April 1994	10	0	Al-Riffa
	DF	Mohamed Adel	20 September 1996	7	0	Manama
	DF	Ahmed Bughammar	30 December 1997	1	0	Al-Hidd
	DF	Ahmed Nabeel	25 August 1995	0	0	Manama
	MF	Sayed Dhiya Saeed	17 July 1992	78	3	Al-Nasr
	MF	Abdulwahab Al-Malood	7 June 1990	43	4	Al-Hidd
	MF	Kamil Al Aswad	8 April 1994	39	3	Al-Riffa
	MF	Ali Madan	30 November 1995	27	4	Al-Najma
	MF	Jasim Al-Shaikh	1 February 1996	9	0	Al-Ahli
	MF	Ali Haram	11 December 1988	4	0	Al-Riffa
	MF	Mohammed Al-Hardan	6 October 1997	9	1	Al-Muharraq
	MF	Mohamed Abdulwahab	13 November 1989	0	0	Al-Hidd
	MF	Issa Ali Jihad	14 March 1993	0	0	Manama
	FW	Ismail Abdullatif	11 September 1986	111	40	Al-Muharraq
	FW	Sami Al-Husaini	29 September 1989	68	8	East Riffa
	FW	Abdulla Yusuf Helal	12 June 1993	40	5	Slovan Liberec

Recent callups

The following players have been called up for the Bahrain squad within the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up

Note: Caps and goals may be incomplete for certain players, therefore being inaccurate.

Records

As of 8 December 2019[6]

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

Most capped players # Name Caps Goals Career 1 Salman Isa 156 25 2001–2012 2 Mohamed Husain 145 11 1997–2015 3 Mohamed Salmeen 126 11 2000–2013 4 Sayed Mohammed Jaffer 123 0 2004–2019 5 Ismail Abdul-Latif 120 41 2005–2019 6 Abdulla Al-Marzooqi 113 10 2001–2013 7 Hussain Ali Baba 112 6 2001–2016 8 Faouzi Aaish 103 19 2001–2015 9 Husain Ali 101 33 1998–2013 10 Abdulwahab Al-Safi 98 1 2009–2019

Top goalscorers # Name Goals Caps Ratio Career 1 Ismail Abdul-Latif 41 120 0.34 2005–2019 2 Husain Ali 33 101 0.33 1998–2013 3 A'ala Hubail 26 74 0.35 2003–2009 Talal Yousef 26 96 0.27 1998–2009 5 Salman Isa 25 156 0.16 2001–2012 6 Faouzi Aaish 19 103 0.18 2001–2015

Current staff

Role	Name
Head coach	Hélio Sousa
Assistant coach	Jose Carniero
Assistant coach	Ahmed Isa
Goalkeeper coach	Pedro Roma
Fitness coach	Jose Herculano
Team Analyst	Ahmed Kamal

Coaches

Source

• Emad Al-Maawada and Abdul-Salam Alam (1966)
• Hamada El-Sharqawi (1970–1974)
• Danny McLennan (1974–1975)
• Jack Mansell (1976)
• Mal Thompson Michael Gorman (1979)
• Ljubiša Broćić (1979–1981)
• Ali Ahmed Farouq (1981)
• Sebastião Pereira de Araújo (1982–1984)
• Keith Burkinshaw (1984–1986)
• Abdelmajid Chetali (1988)
• Uli Maslo (1990)
• Sebastião Pereira de Araújo (1992–1993)
• Ivan Katalinić (1994)
• Hamad Rashid Nasser Al-Noyami (1994)
• Fuad Boshqar (1996)
• Josef Hickersberger (1997)
• Ernesto Rosa Guedes (1998)
• Alexandru Moldovan (1999)
• Salman Sharida (2000)
• Victor Stănculescu (2000–2001)
• Wolfgang Sidka (2001–2002)
• Yves Herbet (2003)
• Srećko Juričić (2003–2005)
• Wolfgang Sidka (2005)
• Luka Peruzović (2005–2006)
• Riyadh Al-Thawadi (2006, caretaker)
• Hans-Peter Briegel (2006–2007)
• Senad Kreso (2007 caretaker)
• Milan Máčala (2008–2010)
• Josef Hickersberger (2010)
• Marjan Eid (2010, caretaker)
• Salman Sharida (2010–2011)
• Peter Taylor (2011–2012)
• Gabriel Calderón (2012–2013)
• Anthony Hudson (2013 – Aug 2014)
• Adnan Hamad (Aug 2014 – Nov 2014)
• Marjan Eid (Nov 2014 – Jan 2015)
• Sergio Batista (May 2015 – May 2016)
• Miroslav Soukup (Jul 2016 – Jan 2019)
• Hélio Sousa (Mar 2019 – )

Honours

Continental

• AFC Asian Cup:

Fourth place: 2004

Regional

• Arabian Gulf Cup:

Champions: 2019

Runner-up: 1970, 1982, 1992, 2003

Third Place: 1990, 1994, 2004

• WAFF Championship:

Champions: 2019

Third Place: 2012

• Pan Arab Games

Gold Medalists: 2011

• Arab Nations Cup:

Runner-up: 1985, 2002

Kit providers

Manufacturer Period Legea Puma Romai[7][8] 2014–2018 Macron[9] 2019–

References

1. Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
2. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
3. http://www.teammelli.com/2015/01/10/history-of-iran-vs-bahrain/
4. "Bahrain wins WAFF Championship 2019 title". bna.bh. 15 August 2019.
5. "Bahrain beat Saudi Arabia to win the 2019 Gulf Cup". as.com. 8 December 2019.
6. Mamrud, Roberto. "Bahrain - Record International Players". RSSSF.
7. "Khamis Al Rumaithi: No commercial objectives behind Romai's sponsorship of Palestine's national team". UAE Today. Emaratalyoum. 4 December 2014. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
8. "The president of the football union hosts a press conference in the presence of several club managers". Akhbar Alkhaleej. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
9. "MACRON APPROVED AS OFFICIAL KIT SUPPLIER". BFA. Bahrain Football Association. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2018.

External links

• Bahrain Football Association official website
• Bahrain at FIFA.com