Bahrain national under-17 football team

The Bahrain national under-17 football team is the selection of under-17 players who represent the Bahrain Football Association for two years in competition. They have once been finalists in the AFC U-16 Championship and once finished fourth at the FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Bahrain Bahrain national under-17 football team
Nickname(s)Al Ahmar (The Reds)
AssociationBahrain Football Association
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Sub-confederationWAFF (West Asia)
FIFA codeBHR
First colours
FIFA U-17 World Cup
Appearances2 (first in 1989)
Best resultFourth place (1989)
AFC U-16 Championship
Appearances7 (first in 1986)
Best resultRunners-ups (1988)

Al Ahmar was successful at the FIFA U-17 World Cup way back in 1989 where they topped group A, beating the likes of Cuba and Ghana by 3-0 and 1-0 margins, respectively. They drew with Scotland 1–1 in their final group stage game which helped them top their group. Later in the quarterfinals, they defeated Brazil on penalties and lost to Saudi Arabia in the semifinal hence ending their maiden FIFA U-17 World Cup on a high note by finishing 4th. They have played only one more world cup since then (in 1997) where they finished 3rd in their group, winning only one game.

Bahrain enjoyed the success in AFC U-16 competitions as well. Their best result came in 1988 where they finished as runners up losing to Saudi Arabia in final. After failing to qualify in 1990 edition, they qualified for the next 4 editions until 1998, but this time, the best they could achieve was 3rd place in 1996 & 1998 editions.

Since 2000 edition until 2018 Bahrain failed to qualify for AFC U-16 Championship, but AFC awarded them hosting rights for 2020 edition of AFC U-16 Championship.