page_title: Bahrain
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Bahrain / Culture / Sports
caption_attribution_description: The podium of the 2007 Bahrain GP (l-r: Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen).
context_page_description: Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a sovereign state in the Persian Gulf. The island nation comprises a small archipelago made up of 40 natural islands and an additional 51 artificial islands, centered around Bahrain Island which makes up around 83 percent of the country's landmass. The country is situated between the Qatari peninsula and the north eastern coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by the 25-kilometre King Fahd Causeway. According to the 2010 census, Bahrain's population is over 1.2 million, of which around half are non-nationals. At 780 square kilometres in size, it is the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. The capital and largest city is Manama.
  Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilization. It has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries, which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to convert to Islam, during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad in 628 CE.
context_section_description: Bahrain is the first nation other than United States of America to host International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championships of Amateur MMA. Bahrain have recorded an influx in global athletes visiting the nation for Mixed Martial Arts training during 2017.
  In 2018, Cricket was introduced in Bahrain under initiative of KHK Sports and Exelon. Bahrain Premier League 2018 comprised six franchise squads of 13 resident cricketers competing in the T20 format. The teams were SRam MRam Falcons, Kalaam Knight-Riders, Intex Lions, Bahrain Super Giants, Four Square Challengers and Awan Warriors.
  Association football is the most popular sport in Bahrain. Bahrain's national football team has competed multiple times at the Asian Cup, Arab Nations Cup and played in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, though it has never qualified for the World Cup. Bahrain has its own top-tier domestic professional football league, the Bahraini Premier League. Basketball, rugby and horse racing are also widely popular in the country. The government of Bahrain also sponsors a UCI WorldTeam cycling team, Bahrain–Merida, which participated in the 2017 Tour de France.
  Brave Combat Federation is a Bahrain-based Mixed Martial Arts promotion which has hosted events in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Kazakhstan, and India. Bahrain MMA Federation (BMMAF) has been set up under the patronage of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa and the jurisdiction of the Sports Minister, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The development of MMA in the nation is convened through KHK MMA, which owns Brave Combat Federation which is the largest Mixed Martial Arts promotion in the Middle East. Bahrain will be hosting Amateur World Championships 2017 in association with International Mixed Martial Arts Federation. Bahrain will be the first Asian and Arab country to host the amateur MMA championship.
  Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, which hosted the inaugural Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on 4 April 2004, the first in an Arab country. This was followed by the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2005. Bahrain hosted the opening Grand Prix of the 2006 season on 12 March of that year. Both the above races were won by Fernando Alonso of Renault. The race has since been hosted annually, except for 2011 when it was cancelled due to ongoing anti-government protests. The 2012 race occurred despite concerns of the safety of the teams and the ongoing protests in the country. The decision to hold the race despite ongoing protests and violence has been described as "controversial" by Al Jazeera English, CNN, AFP and Sky News. The Independent named it "one of the most controversial in the history of the sport".
  In 2006, Bahrain also hosted its inaugural Australian V8 Supercar event dubbed the "Desert 400". The V8s returned every November to the Sakhir circuit until 2010, in which it was the second event of the series. The series has not returned since. The Bahrain International Circuit also features a full-length dragstrip where the Bahrain Drag Racing Club has organised invitational events featuring some of Europe's top drag racing teams to try to raise the profile of the sport in the Middle East.
  On August 3, 2020, the Kingdom of Bahrain bought a minority stake in the Paris F.C., a team that plays in France’s second tier. Bahrain’s entry into the soccer club came with people criticizing that the country is trying to whitewash its horrific human rights record and this is another way of buying influence in Europe.
caption: The podium ceremony at the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix
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