Manama: The President of the Bahrain Football Association (BFA), His Excellency Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa has declared that preparations are on track to make October’s AFC U-19 Championship one of the best ever in the competition’s long history.
Speaking in the Bahraini capital of Manama following Saturday’s draw for the continental gathering, Shaikh Ali confirmed that his country was on schedule to deliver an exceptional tournament, with further organisational infrastructure set to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
“We are looking forward to hosting the AFC U-19 Championship in Bahrain and we will endeavor to make it one of the best ever,” Shaikh Ali told the-afc.com.
“As the host nation we will have two paths, one will be preparing the team and the other will be preparing the event and we will be focusing on both objectives at the same time.
“Historically this is the biggest football tournament Bahrain has ever organised. We pitched for this tournament in order to put the spotlight on Bahrain, particularly the football side of things. Hopefully, by doing that we will organise an Asian class event and build a team of local talent who will help us organise many other football tournaments in the future.
“In two weeks from now, the tournament structure - as far as logistics, administration and event management in general are concerned - will be in place and we will continue to build on that up until the event itself in October.”
While acknowledging that Bahrain were eyeing one of the four spots at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Korea Republic that the AFC U-19 Championship has to offer, Shaikh Ali reiterated that the continental extravaganza was a key part of a much lengthier plan that the BFA has established.
“The Bahrain team participating at the AFC U-19 Championship will be the future national team given the fact that we are preparing this team for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022,” he said.
“We have a long way to go and this U-19 tournament will be one of the key moments in the four-year development plan we have put in place. I think participating in such events will build a Bahrain national side that can handle itself at future competitions.”
Commenting on the draw itself, which saw Bahrain placed in Group A along with Thailand, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Ali declared: “Bahrain have a tough group, indeed all the groups are far from easy but I would say we certainly have one of the hardest groups to contend with.
“I certainly hope that Bahrain get a positive result at the U-19 Championship as that would undoubtedly help us going forward.”
Photo: AFC
Source: the-afc.com