The

sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the country of

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

is run by the

Bahrain Football Association The Bahrain Football Association () is the governing body of football in Bahrain, and controls the Bahrain national football team, the women's and under-17, under-20 and under-23 national teams and domestic football competitions. It was founded i ...

, and significantly the most popular sport in the nation. Bahrain has its own top-tier domestic professional football league, the

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main domestic football competition in the kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1956-1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify f ...

. It features 10 football clubs that play a two-round robin set, with each team playing a total of 18 fixtures. The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

. The league uses a

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

system in association with the Bahraini Second Division, Bahrain's second-tier football league. The season usually starts in September and concludes in May, as in other football leagues. The first season was held in 1952. Although games are played on a home and away basis, most games are played at the

Bahrain National Stadium Bahrain National Stadium (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Stād al-Bahrayn al-Watanī) is the national stadium of Bahrain, located in Riffa. It can accommodate 24,000 spectators and is used mostly for Association football, football mat ...

. The relegation of the lowest season finishing team is decided by a relegation/promotion playoff match against the second lowest finishing team. The most successful club in the league's history is

Al-Muharraq SC Al-Muharraq Sports Club is a professional association football, football club based in Muharraq, Bahrain. Founded in 1928, it is one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in Bahrain. The club has won numerous domestic and regional titl ...

Total championships

''As of 2019–20 season''.

League system

The Bahrain national football team

The most significant achievement of the

Bahrain national football team The Bahrain national football team () represents Bahrain in international football and is controlled by the Bahrain Football Association, which was founded in 1951 and joined FIFA in 1966. They have never reached the FIFA World Cup, but have t ...

is reaching the semi-finals of the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

. The national football team of Bahrain lost against Japan in the semi-finals of the tournament.

Football stadiums in Bahrain

References

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Total championships

League system

The Bahrain national football team

Football stadiums in Bahrain

See also

References