FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S youth football national team were drawn yesterday in a tough Group B for the AGCFF U17 Gulf Cup 2025.
The eight-nation competition is set to be held in Doha, Qatar, from September 20 to October 2.
The kingdom’s representatives are set to compete in Group B in the tournament’s preliminary round alongside Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq. Group A features the UAE, Oman, Yemen and hosts Qatar.
The draw was conducted yesterday at the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) headquarters in the Qatari capital. Representatives from the participating youth national teams attended via video conferencing technology.
The under-17 nationals, coached by Croatian tactician Ugo Klingor, are currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina for an overseas training camp. They are set to play a friendly game today against FK Zeljeznicar Sarajevo, before taking on the host nation’s youth squad on Monday next week and then again on August 28. The nationals are then scheduled to return to the kingdom the next day.
They have a busy schedule ahead for the remainder of the year. Following this year’s AGCFF U17 Gulf Cup, Bahrain will also compete in the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 qualifiers. Their campaign is scheduled from November 22 to 30.
The Bahrainis are one of 38 teams vying for just seven available places in the continental tournament’s finals, which will be held from May 7 to 24 in Saudi Arabia.
The qualifying field has been divided into seven groups – each to be held at a centralised location – with Bahrain drawn in Group A alongside hosts China, Bangladesh, Brunei, Timor-Leste, and Sri Lanka.
All the group winners will progress to the tournament finals, where they will join the nine Asian Football Confederation (AFC) representatives from the Fifa U-17 World Cup 2025 who have already qualified, including Qatar, Uzbekistan, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, Tajikistan, the UAE, Indonesia, and Saudi.
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