It’s believed that football in Bahrain has started in 1919 at Al Hidaya Al Khalifiya School in Muharraq, which was the second capital of Bahrain. Two teams were officially founded in 1928 – Al Khalifi in Muharraq and Al Watani in Manama. These two teams have met on several occasions, while both played against other teams representing the expatriate communities in Bahrain.

As time passed by, more local teams emerged, resulting in the formation of the Bahrain national team. Their first international match was played in 1931 against Iraq in Basra. A committee, tasked at supervising domestic competitions, was later founded in 1945. At that time, local championships featured a combination of national and expatriate teams, representing local clubs, companies and establishments.