Bahrain Football Association approve technical team of newly signed head coach Dragan Talajic

TDT | Manama                                                      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The technical staff of Bahrain’s newly signed senior men’s national football team head coach Dragan Talajic is now set.

The Bahrain Football Association (BFA) announced yesterday the approval of Talajic’s team, which includes Bahraini assistant coach Marjan Eid.

The others, all Talajic’s countrymen from Croatia, include Eid’s fellow-assistant Goran Lackovic, technical analyst Jasmin Osmanovic, goalkeeper coach Ivan Kovacic, and fitness coach Matej Filipi.

Talajic has taken the reins of the national team from Argentinian Juan Antonio Pizzi, whose two-year contract was terminated last month by the BFA with mutual consent after just over half-a-year in the job.

Talajic, 58, was a goalkeeper during his playing career. He began coaching in 2003 and has extensive experience in guiding clubs in the region.

He has coached three clubs in Bahrain in the past, including Riffa, East Riffa and most recently Al Khaldiya from late 2020 to mid-2022.

During this period, he helped Khaldiya claim their first-ever HM the King’s Cup title in 2022. Joint-qualifiers Talajic is taking charge of Bahrain as they compete in the joint-qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027. Currently in the second round of qualification, Bahrain are in Group H.

They resume their bid later this month with two games against Nepal on March 21 and March 26. Their final two games of this qualifying round will be against Yemen at home on June 6, and then away against the UAE on June 11.

At the end of this stage, the winners and runners-up of each of the nine groups advance to the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers, and also book their direct tickets to the AFC Asian Cup 2027.

Bahrain’s matches with the Nepalese may both be played in the Kingdom.

The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) have issued a statement saying that “due to various sporting and other activities being hosted at the only international stadium in Nepal, and considering the time constraints for pitch maintenance, the condition of the stadium pitch has been deemed unsatisfactory for the qualifier match.”

The BFA announced that it has proposed to also host the March 21 game, originally set to be played in Kathmandu, and the ANFA have no objections to it, the BFA said. Both parties are now awaiting approval from the Asian Football Confederation.