Bahrain

Although Bahrain’s first national football team was established in 1959, the side was not officially organized until 1966, when it played a friendly match against Kuwait that ended in a 4–4 draw. During this period, Bahrain, despite remaining under British influence, had been granted a degree of autonomy that allowed the country to develop its football infrastructure. Historically, Bahrain was considered one of the weaker teams in the Gulf region, which included stronger sides such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. As a result, Bahrain’s early international participation was largely limited to the Arabian Gulf Cup.

Bahrain qualified for its first AFC Asian Cup in 1988, but finished at the bottom of its group with two draws. In the years that followed, the senior national team received limited attention and investment, despite notable achievements at youth levels, particularly with the under-17 and under-20 teams. It was not until the late 20th century that Bahrain began to show significant improvement, marking a turning point in the development of football in the country.

Bahrain delivered notable performances during the qualification campaigns for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and the 2002 FIFA World Cup, reaching the final round of World Cup qualifying for the first time. Although the team did not qualify in either competition, Bahrain recorded significant victories over Iran—winning 1–0 in Aleppo during the 2000 Asian Cup qualifiers and 3–1 at home during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. The latter result had implications for the regional qualification standings, as it prevented Iran from securing a direct World Cup berth and contributed to Saudi Arabia’s qualification. The match subsequently drew attention due to celebrations by some Bahraini supporters, which added to existing tensions between the two countries’ football fan bases.

Bahrain delivered a strong performance at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup in only its second appearance in the tournament. Drawn into a group with hosts China, Qatar, and Indonesia, the team progressed through the group stage undefeated, earning a 2–2 draw against China in Beijing, a 1–1 draw with Qatar, and a 3–1 victory over Indonesia to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time. Bahrain then defeated Uzbekistan on penalties after a 2–2 draw in the quarter-finals. In the semi-finals, Bahrain narrowly lost 4–3 after extra time to defending champions Japan, before falling 4–2 to Iran in the third-place match. The team’s performance in the tournament is regarded as a significant milestone in the development of Bahraini football.

After both Uzbekistan and Bahrain finished third in their respective groups during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the two teams met in a two-legged AFC playoff. Bahrain advanced on the away goals rule after a 1–1 aggregate draw. This result qualified Bahrain for an inter-confederation playoff against the fourth-placed CONCACAF team, Trinidad and Tobago, for a place at the World Cup. The first leg ended 1–1 in Port of Spain, but Bahrain lost the return match 1–0 in Manama, allowing Trinidad and Tobago to qualify for the World Cup for the first time.

Bahrain competed in Group D during the qualification stage for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. The team fielded a largely under-23 squad in its match against Australia, which ended in a 2–0 defeat. Bahrain ultimately secured qualification by defeating Kuwait in their final group match. At the tournament, Bahrain were eliminated in the group stage after losses to Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, despite recording an upset victory over the Korea Republic.

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 to 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 a victory would qualify them for the World Cup, but after a goalless draw in Manama on 10 October 2009, Bahrain lost the return leg 1–0 in Wellington on 14 November 2009, missing out on qualification at the last hurdle for the second time running.

Bahrain qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup held in neighbouring Qatar, and was drawn in a tough group composing Australia, South Korea and India. Bahrain faced its first task to overcome South Korea, with the hope to repeat the surprise 2–1 victory of the 2007 edition, but South Korea turned the deficit to beat Bahrain with the same score. After the loss, Bahrain cruised past India in a seven-goal party, Bahrain scored five to keep its hope alive; but its campaign ended in vain when they lost to Australia 0–1 and was dismissed from the group stages.

In the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, 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 lost 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, or Qatar had to be beaten by Iran in the final round. If they had also drawn to Iran away from home, they would have advanced. But neither luck came to them, and their campaign ended in the third round, their worst result since the 1998 World Cup qualifiers.

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup once again became a disappointment for the Bahrainis, even though their group was easier, with only Iran being the biggest opponent while the UAE and Qatar were no strangers. Bahrain lost two opening games against Iran and the UAE 0–2 and 1–2, the latter defeat was subject to the earliest goal in Asian Cup history by Ali Mabkhout. Bahrain salvaged some pride with a 2–1 win over Qatar, condemning its neighbour to bottom of the group while Bahrain finished third for the second consecutive Asian Cup.

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers second round, Bahrain finished fourth in a group with Uzbekistan, North Korea, Philippines and Yemen. The poor performance of the Bahraini side caused huge public uproar over the team's ongoing decline, rocked the chair of manager Sergio Batista. He was eventually sacked and replaced by Czech youth coach Miroslav Soukup, who decided to revamp the team.

Later on, Bahrain participated in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, where finished first in the third round in a group with Turkmenistan, Chinese Taipei and Singapore, to qualify to the next AFC Asian Cup. However, the team's performance was far from perfect. The team suffered a home draw to minnows Singapore, before getting humiliated by Chinese Taipei away 1–2 that was considered as a shock, since Taiwan is not a football nation. This defeat also prompted Bahrain's main star, Ismail Abdullatif, to retire from the team.

Bahrain managed some promising performance during this deteriorating era, reaching semi-finals of the 23rd Arabian Gulf Cup held in Kuwait.

At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Bahrain was grouped with India, Thailand and hosts United Arab Emirates. The Bahrainis managed a promising early performance when they faced the hosts, scored a goal lead in 78', but was eventually held 1–1 following an unclear penalty decision by the Jordanian referee Adham Makhadmeh. However, Bahrain suffered a blasting loss to Thailand 0–1, leaving the team flounder despite its earlier performance. In the final match against India, which the Indians only required a draw to progress, Bahrain however managed to get a needed penalty in injury time, where Jamal Rashid turned hero as Bahrain won the fixture 1–0 to seal the team into the knockout stage for the only second times ever, and eliminated the Indians from the competition. The Bahraini side then played its own round of sixteen match, where they lost 2–1 to South Korea after extra time. This was considered as a major success for Bahraini football, and also to be the end of the country's football misfortune that endured since 2010s.

Afterwards, Bahrain managed to win two competitions for the first time, after defeating both Iraq and Saudi Arabia, 1–0 under the leadership of Hélio Sousa against all odds, in the WAFF Championship and Gulf Cup respectively.

Bahrain defeated Iran 1–0 in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualification Round 2, delivering a major upset in the qualifying process, and with Bahrain enjoying huge edge in the qualifiers, Bahrain was expected to reach the third round. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, Bahrain's great progression in 2019 was reversed when it lost significant home supports (despite being designated as hosts for the remaining games) due to pandemic, as fans were barred from attending, Iran having replaced manager as well, combining the Bahrain's domestic league under frequent disruption due to the pandemic, all left Bahraini players little time to organise their team. Bahrain triumphed against Cambodia 8–0 in their first game since the pandemic began, but against an Iranian side that was entirely revamped, a Bahraini side without home support was completely demoralised, losing 0–3 in process. This defeat proved to be disastrous for Bahrain, as their 4–0 victory over Hong Kong was too little, too late, due to Iran prevailing 1–0 over Iraq in the final game.

In the 2023 AFC Asian Cup, Bahrain won their group (which contained Malaysia, South Korea, and Jordan). After a first matchday loss to South Korea, they followed it up with back-to-back wins, before falling to Japan in the Round of 16.

Bahrain's 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign had been the worst since their return to the final round in 16 years. After dominating the second round with ease, Bahrain started the third round with a glorious shock 1–0 away win over Australia in the opener, triggering widespread optimism of Bahrain's fulfillment of qualifying for a maiden FIFA World Cup. Yet, what followed later had been a string of catastrophic defeats, such as consecutive losses to Japan, and three shock losses to China and Indonesia, despite being unbeaten to Australia and a goalless away draw to Saudi Arabia, and their conquest at the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup. In particular, the shock 1–0 home defeat to China, as well as the similar shock away loss by the same scoreline against Indonesia, were particularly damaging as they contributed to Bahrain's WCQ collapse. More noteworthy, after winning the Gulf Cup in early January 2025, Bahrain failed to score in four consecutive WCQ fixtures while conceded six in total, suggesting Bahrain had severe issues in finding reliable strikers throughout the remainders. In the end, Bahrain finished bottom of the table with only five goals (the worst offensive power in the third round) and just two sole goalscorers, Mahdi Abduljabbar and Mohamed Marhoon, to end the country's forgettable final round campaign as Bahrain's 2026 FIFA World Cup quest ended in disaster as Bahrain missed out of a spot for the World Cup again.