On June 5, Georgia’s national football team will play their second friendly of the June international window. Willy Sagnol’s side will host Bahrain at the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, with kick-off at 20:00. Georgian Public Broadcaster’s First Channel will carry the match live.

Bahrain are the eleventh Asian side Georgia have ever faced. Across those 13 encounters against Asian opponents, the national team’s record stands at six wins, two draws and five defeats.

The squad held their final training session at the match venue on the eve of the fixture. Head coach Willy Sagnol addressed the media, confirming that Giorgi Chakvetadze’s injury is not serious, though he will miss the match. The headline news, however, is the return of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia; the star winger will take to the pitch from the very first minute, wearing the captain’s armband.

Georgia has played three times this year under Sagnol: a 2–2 draw with Israel, a convincing 2–0 away victory over Lithuania, and a 1–1 draw with Romania on June 2.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Georgia and Bahrain. The Crusaders [national football team] currently sit 72nd in the FIFA rankings, allowing them to extend their unbeaten run against an opponent ranked 19 places below them at 91st.

Bahrain, for their part, will be eager to prove they are capable of causing problems, though they arrive in Tbilisi without a competitive match since December 2025. Their most recent competitive action came at the 2025 Arab Cup, where they finished third in their group, losing to Algeria (1–5) and Iraq (1–2), and managing only a narrow victory over Sudan (3–1). In the lead-up to that tournament, they had lost five consecutive friendlies, with their only bright spot a 2–2 draw against Qatar.

Bahrain’s Croatian head coach Dragan Talajić is hopeful that the friendly against Georgia will serve as valuable preparation for the Gulf Cup and the Asian Cup, where his side will face North Korea, Jordan and Uzbekistan.