The Bahraini Premier League is the main football competition in Bahrain. The first season was held in 1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the AFC Cup. The championship is currently contested by 10 clubs.
Contents
Current structure
10 clubs currently play a two round robin set of fixtures totalling 18 games in order to determine the league champions. Although games are played on a home and away basis, almost all games are played at the National Stadium.
The bottom placed club is relegated with the team finishing second bottom entering a relegation/promotion play-off match.
Previous structures
In seasons gone by, the league has been radically overhauled to feature all the professional clubs of Bahrain. Instances being the 2008–09 and 2002 league seasons. The leagues featuring up to 19 teams would play each other on one occasion with the top 10 teams staying in the Premier League top flight and the bottom sides (from 11 to 19) forming the next seasons 2nd division.
Between the seasons of 2002 and 2009, the top four sides of the league would also play in the Crown Prince Cup.
Clubs
Team re-structuring
In 2002, a host of clubs were amalgamated together:
[*1] Bahrain are an amalgamation of Bahrain and Al-Khaleej
[*2] Riffa are an amalgamation of West Riffa and Zallaq
[*3] Al-Najma are an amalgamation of Al-Hilal, Al-Qadisiya and Ras Al-Rumman
[*4] Al-Sahel are an amalgamation of Qalali and Hadd
[*5] Al-Tadamun are an amalgamation of Boori, Karazkan, Hamla, Reef Union and Damastan
[*6] Al-Shabab are an amalgamation of Deyya, Sanabis, Jadd Hafs, Naeem, Karrana, Sahla and Karbabad
[*7] Al-Ittifaq are an amalgamation of Al-Arabi, Maqaba and Bani Jumra
List of champions
Champions are:
Total championships
The number of national championships that clubs in Bahrain have attained.