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The promoters of the new 2011/12 Viva Bahrain First Division Football League are calling on expat soccer fans in the kingdom who are missing the excitement of live goalmouth action to support a side in the newly-sponsored national league.
The English Premiership or the Spanish La Liga may be exciting TV entertainment but nothing can beat the thrills and spills of competitive drama or the atmosphere a stadium can deliver.
Ulaiyan Al Wetaid, Viva’s chief executive officer, is urging expats to savour the flavour of Bahrain’s top class football clubs. He said: “Our clubs already have a loyal local fan base and we would be delighted to welcome more expat football fans to the nation’s stadiums to watch some thrilling live action this year.
“There is nothing quite like watching live matches. We might all enjoy watching the Premiership on television but our league allows football fans, especially the younger ones, to feel the buzz and excitement of top class football close to home.
“In the past, perhaps the league has not been able to promote itself or reach out to all of Bahrain but we have some really excellent sides competing to win this year’s Viva Bahrain First Division Football League. So come on down and don’t miss the action!”
The Viva League kicked off last weekend with a couple of cracking season openers on Thursday as the ‘Blue Birds’ of Manama Club faced Al Hidd and five-time champions Al Ahli faced the Al Hala Club. All games were staged at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa.
Manama, who finished in fifth place last season, took the lead after 13 minutes through forward Mahmood Jassim Ghuloom with a beautiful assist from Brazilian striker Leandson ‘Rico’ Da Silva.
Al Hidd pulled one back within 20 minutes thanks to their own Brazilian striker Dos Santos aka Itacaré. Itacaré is a town in the cocoa zone of the state of Bahia in Brazil, south of Salvador.
Manama were reduced to 10 men midway through the second half when Rico received a straight red card for a bruising challenge on Al Hidd’s Yousef Buqais.
In the second match, Al Ahli wasted no time snatching three points, defeating Al Hala Club 1-0.
Greek football fanatic, Georgios Hatzimanolis, was extremely happy to see his favourite team, Al Ahli, win. The 34-year-old, from Amwaj, said: “I landed in Bahrain a fortnight ago and being an avid football supporter I was quick to study the names and colours of the local clubs.”
Hatzimanolis continued: “I instantly chose to support Al Ahli because just like my own favourite club in Greece, AEK Athens, they start with an A, they both have an eagle as the club emblem and both teams wear yellow and black. So the decision was a rather easy one. I am very much looking forward to attending as many games as possible, particularly the upcoming match against Muharraq, which I’m told will be one of the highlights of the season.”
Friday’s matches featured a battle between arch-rivals and powerhouses Muharraq and Riffa. Muharraq clinched their 32nd league trophy last season in thrilling fashion, beating bitter competitiors Al Ahli 2-1 in a final encounter.
With that said, last year’s runners-up Riffa walloped defending champions Muharraq 2-0 thanks to their veteran attacking midfielder Talal Yousef who put the nine-time league winners ahead after 25 minutes. Their new-signing, Nigerian striker John Jumbo, then doubled Riffa’s advantage in the 60th minute.
In another match, title contenders Busaiteen were denied victory by East Riffa in a 2-2 draw. East Riffa stunned Busaiteen in the 23rd minute with an opening strike from skipper Faisal Bodahoom. Midfielder Mohammed Sultan levelled the scores two minutes before half-time with a spectacular long-range strike.
Hisham Mansoor then gave Busaiteen the lead, pouncing on a powerful shot by Sierra Leone midfielder Mumni Kamara which came off East Riffa’s goalkeeper Malek Farhan.
With six minutes remaining, East Riffa’s Fabio came to his club’s rescue, sending a looping free-kick over Busaiteen’s goalkeeper Hussain Haram.
There are 10 sides in the fray for this season’s title which recently took on the name of telecommunication giants Viva, after signing a BD340,000 four-year sponsorship deal.
League action continued on Saturday night with Al Najma beating last season’s Second Division champions Bahrain Club 1-0.
Tomorrow’s game will surely excite the crowd as Manama take on Riffa at 6pm.
On Friday East Riffa will play Al Hala at 5.15pm followed by Bahrain Club challenging Busaiteen.
Muharraq will play Al Najma on Saturday at 5.15pm and Al Ahli will take on Al Hidd straight after.
