Riffa: Portuguese Helio Sousa will replace Miroslav Soukup as the new head coach, the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) announced on Thursday.



The appointment was confirmed by BFA on social media, stating its President H.E. Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa’s approval of Sousa to take over the national team.

“The Chairman of the Bahrain Football Federation (BFA), Chairman of the National Teams Committee, Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, met with Portuguese coach Helio Souza. It was agreed that Helio Souza will be coach of the national football team for the coming period,” the BFA said.

 

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. . اجتمع رئيس مجلس إدارة الاتحاد البحريني لكرة القدم رئيس لجنة المنتخبات الوطنية سعادة الشيخ علي بن خليفة بن أحمد آل خليفة، مع المدرب البرتغالي هيليو سوزا؛ إذ تم الاتفاق على أن يكون هيليو سوزا مدربا للمنتخب الوطني الأول لكرة القدم للفترة القادمة.

A post shared by Bahrain Football Association (@bahrainfa) on Mar 13, 2019 at 4:55am PDT

Soukup, who led Bahrain to the Round of 16 at the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, was out of contract following the Czech’s role after the Continental tournament concluded last month.

The 50-year-old Sousa coached the Portugal U-19 national team, and helped them win the UEFA European U-19 Championship in 2018.

He also steered Portugal to the UEFA European U-17 Championship title in 2016. Sousa's first assignment will be the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying stage.

Sources: Bahrain Football Association, AFPSource: the-afc.com