King’s Cup champions Manama take on League champions Malkiya in the Bapco Super Cup at 7pm today at Khalifa Sports City Stadium.
The Super Cup match is being held before the start of the new football season between Cup and League champions.
Manama were crowned King’s Cup champions after defeating Muharraq 2-1 in the final, while Malkiya claimed the Bahrain VIVA First Division League title for the 2016-2017 season.
Malkiya are being handled by national coach Ahmed Saleh Al Dakheel who will be depending on his stars players such as goalkeeper Abdulkareem Fardan, team captain Sayed Hashim Adnan, as well as midfielder Isa Al Barri and striker Al Sayed Ali Al Sayed Isa.
Manama, under national coach Mohammed Al Shamlan, will be banking on goalkeeper Ashraf Waheed, defender Mohammed Adel, midfielder Ali Haram and striker Mahmood Abdulrahman.
Readiness
At a press conference held on Wednesday, Al Dakheel expressed their readiness to face Manama, saying that his team had prepared for seven weeks and played a number of friendly games.
He added that the chances are equal for both teams to win the Super Cup title.
Al Shamlan, on the other hand, remains upbeat on Manama’s chances to claim the title despite losing five players from their last season’s line-up.
He said the club made a number of signings earlier, and played three friendly matches.
Meanwhile, the Bahrain Football Association set cash prizes for the winners and runners-up of the Super Cup match. The winners will earn BD8,000, while the runners-up team will take BD3,000.
Four teams have won the Super Cup title, namely Muharraq, Al Najma, Al Hidd and East Riffa. Al Hidd who won the it twice.
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