An anonymous hacker group attacked the website and personal information pages of the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) and the country’s national team.

On the morning of October 14, the Bahrain Football Association (BFA) homepage announced: “The Bahrain Football Association’s official media channels and website were attacked by multiple individuals. The accounts of many employees were hacked, leading to delays in our operations.”

The BFA said that the attacks on them took place right after the evening of October 10, when Bahrain hosted Indonesia at home in the third qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup.

Bahrain Football Federation sent a notice of being attacked by hackers on the morning of October 14

Although rated higher, Bahrain still encountered many difficulties against the representative of the “thousand islands country”. Bahrain took the lead from the 15th minute, but conceded 2 goals in the 45+3 and 74th minutes. It was not until the 90+9 minute that Mohamed Marhoon equalized 2-2 to keep 1 point for the home team. The match ended right after Marhoon’s goal, when the clock struck the 90+10 minute.

This result angered Indonesian fans, because the extra time of the second half was only 6 minutes. They thought that the referee ended the match later than the regulation, intentionally interfering with the final result.

BFA said that many players of the Bahrain team were insulted by the hackers: “The personal pages of the players were illegally hacked. Among them, many messages containing sensitive content were sent to the messages of Bahrain players. We affirm that this attack campaign will not prevent the federation from continuing to update and organize related events.”

In response to BFA’s announcement, BolaSport (Indonesia) spoke up: “Problems like this should never happen. Bahrain played a good match, the draw is reasonable.”

Striker Rafael Struick (Indonesia) was disappointed with the draw.

Coach Shin Tae-yong has publicly criticized referee Ahmed Al Kaf for being biased, giving Bahrain more time to score. The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) has also filed a complaint to FIFA to demand justice, but has not received a response.

Indonesia is currently ranked 5th in Group C of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in Asia. They have 3 points after 3 draws, and are 1 of 2 teams that have not lost in Group C. On the evening of October 15, Indonesia will visit Qingdao Stadium to face China in the 4th match. Indonesia needs to win this match if they want to keep their hopes of advancing. The identity of the attacker of the Bahrain Football Federation’s website has not yet been announced.