The Bahrain national football team (Arabic: منتخب البحرين لكرة القدم) 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 World Cup, but have twice come within one match of doing so. Bahrain won the FIFA's most improved team award in 2004, and finished fourth in the 2004 Asian Cup, beating Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals but losing to Japan in the semi-finals 4–3. Bahrain then lost to Iran in the third-place match, thus finishing in fourth place overall. Bahrain had a golden year in 2019, winning both the WAFF Championship and the Arabian Gulf Cup for the first time, under the stewardship of Hélio Sousa.
The Bahrain National Stadium (Arabic: ستاد البحرين الوطني; transliterated: Stād al-Bahrayn al-Watanī) is the national stadium of Bahrain, located in East Riffa. It can accommodate 24,000 seats and is used mostly for football matches.
It was built in 1982. The stadium was renovated in December 2012 for hosting the 21st Arabian Gulf Cup tournament.