Bahrain national football team

Bahrain

Nickname(s)	Al-Ahmar (The Red)
Association	Bahrain Football Association
Sub-confederation	WAFF (West Asia)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Sergio Batista
Captain	Mohamed Husain
Most caps	Salman Isa (156)[1]
Top scorer	Ismail Abdul-Latif (34)[1]
Home stadium	Bahrain National Stadium
FIFA code	BHR
FIFA ranking
Current	123 11 (1 October 2015)
Highest	44 (September 2004)
Lowest	139 (March 2000)
Elo ranking
Current	98 (June 2015)
Highest	49 (September 2000)
Lowest	138 (March 1979)
First international
Bahrain 4–4 Kuwait  (Baghdad, Iraq; April 2, 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	5 (First in 1988)
Best result	Fourth place: 2004

The Bahrain national football team (Arabic: منتخب البحرين لكرة القدم‎) is the national team of the Kingdom of Bahrain and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association; it was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the finals of 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.

History

The 1959 national football team

2006 World Cup

After Uzbekistan and Bahrain both finished third in their respective groups during the World Cup 2006 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 Asian Cup 2007 after defeating Kuwait in their last match. Bahrain were knocked out in the group stages via two losses against Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, despite a win against Korea Republic.

2010 World Cup

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

In the third round of the 2010 FIFA 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 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 the victory would qualify for the World Cup, but after a goalless draw in Manama on 10 October 2009, Bahrain lost the return leg 1–0 in Wellington, 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 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, 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 got thrashed 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. If they had drawn to Iran away from home, they would have advanced. But they failed to do so, and their campaign ended in the third round, their worst result since 2006 qualification.

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

Bahrain  — 10–0 1–1 0–0 Indonesia  0–2 — 1–4 2–3 Iran  6–0 3–0 — 2–2 Qatar  0–0 4–0 1–1 —

2015 and beyond

Competition records

Results and Fixtures

Previous matches

      Win       Draw       Loss

Date	Venue	Opponent	Competition	Result	Bahrain scorers
2015
11 January 2015	Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne	Iran	2015 AFC Asian Cup	0–2 L
15 January 2015	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	United Arab Emirates	2015 AFC Asian Cup	1–2 L	26' Okwunwanne
19 January 2015	Stadium Australia, Sydney	Qatar	2015 AFC Asian Cup	2–1 W	34' Saeed, 82' Ahmed
26 March 2015	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	Colombia	Friendly	0–6 L
30 March 2015	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	Philippines	Friendly	2–1 W	29' Aaish, 31' Yaser
5 June 2015	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok	Thailand	Friendly	1–1 D	81' Eissa
11 June 2015	Philippine Sports Stadium, Bocaue	Philippines	2018 FIFA World Cup (AFC) and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification	1–2 L	90+3' Al-Malood
3 September 2015	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	North Korea	2018 FIFA World Cup (AFC) and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification	0–1 L
8 September 2015	Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha	Yemen	2018 FIFA World Cup (AFC) and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification	4–0 W	31' Ali Baba, 45+1' Al-Husaini, 66' Omar, 77' Adnan
8 October 2015	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	Uzbekistan	2018 FIFA World Cup (AFC) and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification	0–4 L
13 October 2015	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	Philippines	2018 FIFA World Cup (AFC) and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification	2–0 W	53' Abdullatif, 61' Adnan

Forthcoming matches

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent
2015
17 November 2015	2018 WCQ 2019 ACQ	Kim Il-sung Stadium, Pyongyang	North Korea
2016
24 March 2016	2018 WCQ 2019 ACQ	Bahrain National Stadium, Riffa	Yemen
29 March 2016	2018 WCQ 2019 ACQ	Bunyodkor Stadium, Tashkent	Uzbekistan

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

Recent Callups

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

Current Staff

Coaches

Source

Honors

Arab Games Football

• Gold Medalists, 2011

GCC Games Football

• Gold Medalists, 2011

Kit providers

• Legea
• Puma
• Romai Sportswear (current)

See also

• Politics and sports

References

External links

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

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