India U-15 to meet Bahrain in Baku on final day of FIFA U-15 World Cup group stage

India U-15 will face Bahrain U-15 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on October 26, 2026, in the 2026 FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival. The match comes on the final day of the group stage, when India have two fixtures scheduled.

India will play Bahrain in the afternoon before taking on Senegal later the same day, with both games part of the final group-stage programme. The competition attracted significant attention before kick-off amid controversy around the AIFF’s appointment of the head coach; Bibiano Fernandes was eventually appointed and, according to the source, has made a positive impact with the squad.

India began the tournament with a 4-2 win over Laos and followed that with a 2-1 victory against Cameroon, remaining undefeated across their matches. Against Grenada they “bottled a 3-0 lead in the final 10 minutes of the game against Grenada to drop two points,” and the side have displayed defensive issues that the coaching staff will be working to address.

Bahrain started with a 4-0 win over Grenada but then drew 1-1 with Laos in the morning despite Laos being at a numerical disadvantage, before suffering a 6-1 defeat to Senegal in the afternoon. In the Grenada game Bahrain were described as physically dominant, with strong pressing, use of long balls and fast transitions into the final third; those qualities were said not to have been evident on the second day.

Confirmed players named in the source for India are: Jenit Ningthoujam (GK), Pratham Kumar, Nara Meitei Loushambam, Soumojit Sarkar, R Lalremruatfela, Macdonnish Ngairangbam (C), C Lalhmingropuia, Deepak Singh Arambam. Confirmed players listed for Bahrain are: Abdulla Alrowaiei (GK), Sayed Alalawi, Abdulaziz Buaallai, Ridha Ebrahim, Sayed Hashem, Zeyad Aun, Rashed Abdul Rahman, Bader Mahboob.

The India v Bahrain match is scheduled to kick off at 14:15 IST on October 26, 2026, at Pitch 9A of the Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku, and the tournament’s matches are being played as 45-minute games across two days. The India v Bahrain fixture will be streamed live on DAZN; the source also notes that India midfielder R Lalremruatfela is a FC Madras academy player and that both coaches will be hoping for fully fit squads with no injury concerns.

India’s second game on the final day is against Senegal, scheduled to kick off at 21:00 IST on October 26, 2026, at Pitch 8A of the Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku.