FOOTBALL – Matches in the 2024-25 Nasser Bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League are set to kick off later this month.
The Bahrain Football Association (BFA) has released the schedule for the first five weeks of the new campaign in the kingdom’s top-tier club football competition.
Twelve teams are once again set to take part in the league. The teams are defending champions Al Khaldiya, along with Riffa, Muharraq, Al Ahli, Manama, East Riffa, Al Najma, Al Shabab, Sitra, and newly promoted sides Bahrain Club, Aali, and Al Malkiya.
The first week of action will be on September 21 and 22. On night one, three matches will be played simultaneously, kicking off at 7pm at different venues across the kingdom. Sitra face off with Aali at Shaikh Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium in Arad, Riffa play Najma at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town, and then East Riffa take on Malkiya at the National Stadium in Riffa.
The following evening, Khaldiya play Manama at Shaikh Ali Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium, Muharraq take on Shabab at Khalifa Sports City Stadium, and Ahli go up against Bahrain Club at the National Stadium.
Week two is then scheduled for September 26 and 27, to be followed by week three on October 1 and 2. The fourth week’s match days will be on October 19, 20, and 23, and 28; and then the fifth week’s games will take place on October 29 and November 1, 2, and 5.
A match from week three has also been rescheduled to December 1.
Meanwhile, the 2023-24 Bahrain Super Cup between Khaldiya and Hala will take place on September 13 at Khalifa Sports City, the BFA announced.
The match is scheduled for a 7pm kick-off.
The Bahrain Super Cup is the traditional season-opening contest in the kingdom, played between the previous campaign’s champions of the Nasser Bin Hamad Bahrain Premier League and the His Majesty the King’s Cup.
The 2023-24 event was postponed and has now been given its new date.
Khaldiya claimed the 2022-23 league crown – their first in Bahrain football history – while Hala were that year’s winners of the King’s Cup, where they defeated Ahli 6-5 in the final which went to a thrilling penalty shootout after the score remained goalless at the end of regular and extra time.
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