Oman U17 players in intensive training for Gulf Cup

MUSCAT: The Oman Under-17 football team is undergoing a domestic preparatory camp with intensive training sessions at Seeb Stadium ahead of two major assignments — the U17 Gulf Cup Championship in Qatar which will begin on Saturday and the AFC U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers in Saudi Arabia in November.

Oman will kick off their Gulf Cup campaign against the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, before taking on hosts Qatar on September 24. Their final group-stage match will be against Yemen on September 27. The Gulf Cup, organised by the Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) in collaboration with the Qatar Football Association, will be staged in Doha from September 20 to October 2. Oman are drawn in Group A alongside Qatar, UAE and Yemen while Group B featured Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait. The top two teams from each group will advance to the semifinals.

Oman are drawn in Group A alongside Qatar, UAE and Yemen.

The junior Red Warriors concluded the first phase of their training camp in Muscat last week and the second part is going on before they travel to Doha on Thursday. The Oman Football Association (OFA) recently announced that coach Ahmed Bait Said will temporarily lead the squad until a permanent appointment is made.

“I am very pleased to lead the junior national team and thanks to OFA for their confidence and trust. The first camp of the team, which took place last week, was purposely to assess the selected squad and finalising the starting list ahead of Gulf Cup. In this camp we will continue on the assessment of the players before finalising the list,” said coach Ahmed Bait Said.

“The initial squad was selected after following up the first two rounds of Oman’s junior league and depending on the junior players' database besides having some feedback from the previous coaches including Anwar al Habsi and Musab al Dhamri,” he ended.

Oman will kick off their Gulf Cup campaign against the United Arab Emirates on Sunday.

Beyond the Gulf Cup, Oman will also shift focus to the U17 Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers which will take place from November 22 to 30. Oman are placed in Group G with Afghanistan, Syria, Nepal and the hosts Myanmar. The qualifiers will feature 38 teams divided into seven groups, with group winners and the four best runners-up advancing to the finals.

Squad: Abdullah al Saadi, Bashar al Shamsi, Mohammed al Jabri, Namar al Amri, Mubarak al Amri, Eyad al Mushefri, Turki al Ghassani, Mohammed al Mushefri, Mouadh al Hinai, Abdullah al Zaabi, Saleh Hashim, Nadir al Nobi, Hassan Emad, Nayer Said, Ghazi Mummar, Saleh al Balushi, Majd Sadiq, Mohammed Ahmed, Sultan al Balushi, Ahmed al Yahmadi, Turki al Ruzaiqi, Al Azher al Hadabi, Nizar al Sulaimi, Mundher al Hadhrami, Awab al Sukhaili, Abdulrahman al Hashmi, Ali al Buraidi, Hassan al Saadi, Ilyas al Ghadani, Mohammed al Aghbari, Al Khatab al Rawahi, Al Yasa al Busaidy, Jassim al Bahri and Saad al Maamari.