FOOTBALL – THE Bahrain Football Association has announced a squad of 31 players for the kingdom’s under-23 football team as they continue their final preparations for the 2025 West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) Under-23 Championship.
The regional competition is set to be held in its sixth edition, and it will take place from March 19 to 25 in Muscat, Oman.
Bahrain are one of eight teams from across the region participating. The others are hosts Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain.
Bahrain’s players who will be participating in this latest training gathering, to be held locally under the supervision of Moroccan head coach Hicham Dimai, include Sayed Mahmood Al Mosawi, Ahmed Farhan, Ali Raed, Abdulla Al Eker, Ashraf Mubarak, Abdulla Freah, Saud Mohsen, Ahmed Dulaimi, Abdulrahman Al Khayyat, Mohammed Ahmed, Hussain Al Baqali, Mahmood Al Bannai, Khaled Al Khalaf, Abdulrahman Al Haidari, Ali Tarada, Ali Sahwan, Ali Hussain, Mohammed Al Jishi, Mohammed Arhma, Salman Younis, Ramzi Khudair, Rashid Majeran, Faisal Farhan, Bader Al Assam, Hashem Khulaifat, Ali Al Enezi, Ali Al Bannai, Ali Al Dosari, Jassim Mohammed, Abdulla Al Subaie, and Jamal Al Tiri.
The tournament’s unique format will see the participating squads taking to the pitch on three match days. On day one, Oman will take on Saudi Arabia in Group A, Bahrain will face the UAE in Group B, Syria will take on Lebanon in Group C, and Jordan will lock horns with Kuwait in Group D.
The winners of Bahrain’s match-up with their Emirati counterparts will move on to face the victors of the Oman-Saudi clash in a semi-final encounter on March 22. The other game in the final four will pit the winners of the Jordan-Kuwait game against the victors of the Syria-Lebanon affair.
The losers of each game will face off in classification contests.
The concluding day of the tournament will then be headlined by the final between the two winners from the semis, while the losers will lock horns for the right to claim the bronze medals. Ranking contests will also be held to place the teams from fifth through eighth.
Aside from competing in the WAFF championship, Bahrain’s under-23 nationals are also gearing up to play in the qualifiers of the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2026. This is scheduled for September later this year.
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