Despite Ballarat hosting the international soccer team for a 10-day camp before the Asian Cup, little is known about what the Arab-nation players will do while in the city. 

It is expected they will train every day at the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility after arriving on Sunday. 

However,it is not yet known if their practice sessions will be open to the public.

They will stay at Creswick’s Forest Resort.

Ballarat Red Devils are hoping to have some sort of involvement with the Bahrain team, but also remain unaware of what will take place.

The secrecy surrounding Bahrain’s appearance follows a tumultuous period for the national team, which fired respected coach Adnan Hmad after a poor start to the Gulf Cup of Nations.

Marjan Eid comes into the Asian Cup as arguably the tournament’s least-

recognised manager, forced to deal with a side that is horribly out of form after going winless in the group stages of the Gulf Cup.

The team will play a practice match against Jordan in Ballarat on January 4 and against Saudi Arabia in Geelong on December 30.

Other than that, however, their movements remain very much unknown to the public and the City of Ballarat, which is overseeing their visit.

Ballarat Red Devils chairman Duncan Smith, who also led the charge to bring Bahrain to Ballarat earlier this year, said he would love his club to play a friendly or even hold a training session with the visitors. However, there has been no official word on whether that will occur.

“As a club, we’d love to have a friendly against them,” Smith said.

 “We would love to see some sort of involvement from a Red Devils’ perspective. Hopefully, there are at least some training sessions open to the public.”

The friendly match against Jordan will be held at Morshead Park at 7.30pm on January 4 and entry will be free.

patrick.nolan@fairfaxmedia.com.au