2015–16 Bahrain First Division League

Bahrain First Division League

Season	2015-16
AFC Champions League Preliminary Round	Al-Hidd
AFC Cup Group Stage	Muharraq
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 Bahraini First Division League (also known as VIVA Bahrain League for sponsorship reasons), was the 59th top-level football season in Bahrain. Fourteen teams participated with Muharraq as the defending champions after securing the championship last season for the thirty-third time.

The league began on the 26th of October, 2015.

Teams

Bahrain SC and Al-Shabab were relegated at the end of the previous campaign and replaced by Al-Ahli and Sitra. Sitra Club bounced back after one season away from the top flight and Al-Ahli were back after spending 4 years in the second tier.

Stadia and locations

Manama

Al Hala
Al-Muharraq
Al Hadd

Riffa

Malkiya

Busaiteen

Sitra

Manama clubs:

East Riffa Club
Manama Club
Al-Ahli

Locations of teams in the 2015–16 Bahraini League

Club	Location	Manager
Al-Ahli Club (Manama)	Manama	Adnan Ibrahim
Al Hidd	Al Hidd	Salman Shareeda
Al Hala	Muharraq	Mohammad Zwayed
Al-Muharraq	Muharraq	Essa Al-Saadoun
Busaiteen Club	Busaiteen	Khalifa Al-Ziani
East Riffa Club	Manama	Mohammad Shamlan
Malkiya	Malkiya	Ahmad Saleh Al-Dakhil
Manama Club	Manama	Khaled Taj
Riffa S.C.	Riffa	Samir bin Chammam
Sitra Club	Sitra	Khaled Al-Harban

• Although most clubs do have a stadium, all games are actually played at the National Stadium, Khalifa Sports City Stadium and in Al Ahli Stadium. Games are normally played as back to back headers.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Muharraq	Dragan Cvetkovic	Sacked[1]	8 October 2015	Pre-Season	Khaled Taj	10 October 2015
Manama	Miguel Olmo Forte	Sacked[2]	28 October 2015	9th	Ismaeel Karami	28 October 2015
Riffa	Mohammad Al-Shamlan	Sacked[3]	29 November 2015	8th	Samir bin Shammam	29 November 2015
Manama	Ismaeel Karami	Replaced by Chokri Bejaoui[4]	10 December 2015	10th	Chokri Bejaoui	10 December 2015
East Riffa	Essa Al-Saadoun	Resigned[5]	27 January 2016	4th	Mohammad Shamlan	28 January 2016
Muharraq	Khaled Taj	Sacked [6]	1 February 2016	2nd	Essa Al-Saadoun	2 February 2016
Manama	Chokri Bejaoui	Sacked [7]	11 April 2016	10th	Khaled Taj	11 April 2016

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Al Hadd	16	10	6	0	30	14	+16	36	Qualification to the 2017 AFC Champions League Preliminary Round
2	Al-Muharraq	15	8	4	3	25	15	+10	28	Qualification to the 2017 AFC Cup Group Stage^1
3	East Riffa	16	6	4	6	20	13	+7	22	Qualification to the 2017 GCC Champions League Group Stage
4	Al-Riffa	15	7	1	7	18	20	−2	22
5	Malkiya	16	5	6	5	18	17	+1	21
6	Al Hala	16	5	5	6	19	24	−5	20
7	Al-Ahli	16	4	6	6	18	18	0	18
8	Sitra	16	4	5	7	18	22	−4	17
9	Busaiteen	15	5	2	8	16	25	−9	17	Relegation to the 2015–16 Bahraini Second Division
10	Manama Club	15	3	3	9	13	27	−14	12

Updated to games played on 23 April 2016.
Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.
¹Muharraq qualifies for 2017 AFC Cup Group Stage as winners of 2015-16 Bahrain King's Cup.

Season statistics

Goalscorers

As of matches played 26 April 2016

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mohammad Saad Al-Rumaihi	Al Hidd	12
	Ismail Abdullatif	Muharraq	12
2	Essa Abdulwahab Al-Beri	Malkiya	7
	Ali Al-Asfour	Sitra	7
3	Sami Al-Husaini	East Riffa	6

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Abdullatif, IsmailIsmail Abdullatif	Muharraq	Hala	3–0[8]	22 April 2016

References

1. "المحرق يقيل مدربه دراغان رسميا". Al-Bilad Press. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
2. "المنامة يقيل مدربه الإسباني ميغيل أولمو ويعين كرامي". Al-Wasat News. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
3. "الرفاع يقيل المدرب محمد شملان رسميا". Al-Bilad Press. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
4. "المنامة يقيل مدربه الإسباني ميغيل أولمو ويعين كرامي". Al-Chourouk. 29 November 2015. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
5. "الشرقي يُعين الشملان رسمياً اليوم..". Al-Wasat News. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
6. "المحرق يتعاقد مع ثالث مدرب في موسم واحد". Al-Khaleej. 2 February 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
7. "المنامة يُقيل التونسي بجاوي ويُعين خالد تاج مدرباً". Al-Wasat News. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
8. "Muharraq vs. Hala - 22 April 2016 -Soccerway".