Al Ahli

Al Ahli Stadium sits in the Zinj district of Manama and holds 10,000, small enough that the club shifts its biggest fixtures to the Bahrain National Stadium instead — the derby against Al Muharraq draws crowds the Zinj ground cannot hold. Yellow and black have carried the club's colours since before that name was settled: it grew out of Al-Nusoor, which merged with Al-Trasana, and the merged side kept the old nickname, the Eagles, rather than adopt a new one.

The nine King's Cup wins run from 1960 to 2024, a span few clubs in the country can match, and the first three of those, in 1960, 1968 and 1977, were lifted while the club still played under the Al-Nusoor name. The five league titles cluster earlier, the last coming in 2010, and Al Ahli has had to work back for silverware since: relegation followed the 2011–12 season, and the return to the top flight preceded a run of three Bahraini FA Cups, in 2007, 2016 and 2023, either side of that spell in the second division.

A'ala Hubail, top scorer at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, played for Al Ahli alongside his brother Mohamed, and Mohammed Husain captained the national side while at the club — a pipeline into the Bahrain team that has outlasted any single trophy run.

None of that changes what the derby means in Manama: on those nights Al Ahli's own ground in Zinj stands empty and the crowd goes to the National Stadium instead, because that is the only place in the city built to hold it.