Bahrain national football team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For current information on this topic, see Bahrain national football team results. |
| Nickname(s) | Al-Ahmar (The Red) | ||
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| Association | Bahrain Football Association | ||
| Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
| Head coach |  Milan Máčala |
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| Most caps | Abdulrazzaq Mohamed (102) | ||
| Top scorer | Husain Ali (31) | ||
| Home stadium | Bahrain National Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | BHR | ||
| FIFA ranking | 66 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 44 (September 2004) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 139 (March 2000) | ||
| Elo ranking | T78 | ||
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| First international | |||
.svg){kind=small} Bahrain 4 - 4 Kuwait  (Baghdad, Iraq; April 2, 1966) |
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| Biggest win | |||
 Bahrain 5 - 0 Kyrgyzstan  (Bahrain; June 9, 2004) Bahrain 5 - 0 Turkmenistan  (Bahrain; 3 August 2005) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
 Iraq 10 - 1 Bahrain (Baghdad, Iraq; April 6, 1966) |
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| AFC Asian Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 (First in 1988) | ||
| Best result | Fourth place, 2004 | ||
The Bahraini 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. They have never made the World Cup, but have improved greatly during the past few years. Bahrain won FIFA's most improved team award in 2004, and finished fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup. The international team was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966.
Bahrain finished fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup in a very surprising run, beating Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals but losing to Japan in the semi-finals in an exciting encounter which ended 4-3 to Japan, where Bahrain were leading several times. Bahrain then lost to Iran in the third place match, therefore finishing fourth place overall.
After Uzbekistan and Bahrain both finished third in their groups during the World Cup 2006 qualifiers, October 12, 2005, Bahrain entered a two-legged playoff with Uzbekistan, which they won due to away goals with an aggregate score of 1-1. This win 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, which was greeted with both anger and sadness by Bahraini fans.
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.
On January 6, 2007, Bahrain faced Inter Milan in a friendly match which they lost 6-1. Despite the result, the event was greeted with enthusiasm by the whole country.
Bahrain are currently participating in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers. In the third round, Bahrain were drawn into group B along with Japan, Oman, and Thailand. Bahrain went on a great run, with wins against all three teams. Bahrain tied Oman 1-1 at home to qualify for the final round. Bahrain finished second overall to qualify to the final round.
Having reached the final round, Bahrain finished third place overall in their group, below Australia and Japan, but above Uzbekistan and Qatar. This means they will now face Saudi Arabia in a playoff to decide Asia's fifth best team. The winner will then play New Zealand in another playoff in which the victor will qualify for the World Cup.
Contents |
[edit] World Cup record
[edit] AFC Qualification Records
| Asian Qualification Records | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA |
 1930 to 1974 |
Did not enter | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 1978 |
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
 1982 |
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
 1986 |
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 |
 1990 |
Withdrew | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 1994 |
Did not qualify | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6 |
 1998 |
Did not qualify | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
  2002 |
Did not qualify | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 17 | 13 |
| 2006 |
Did not qualify | 16 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 14 |
 2010 |
Qualification in progress | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 54 | 19 | 15 | 20 | 63 | 60 | |
[edit] Asian Competitions History
[edit] AFC Asian Cup record
[edit] Final records
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[edit] AFC Qualification records
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