Ahal football players arrived in the city of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), where from April 7 to 27, four clubs from Turkmenistan, Iran, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will compete for the most prestigious club trophy in Asia in a two-round competition.

This year, 40 teams will compete in the AFC Champions League group stage, divided geographically into 2 zones - Western and Eastern.

The vice-champion of Turkmenistan will play in group "C" of the "West" zone with the teams "Shabab Al-Ahli" (UAE), "Al-Gharafa" (Qatar) and "Foolad" (Iran).

As Guvanch Ovekov, the chairman of FC Ahal, told the ZV correspondent, the team traveled to Saudi Arabia for more than two days during the pandemic, having traveled a long way from Ashgabat through Turkmenabat, Bukhara, Tashkent and Dubai. Upon arrival, the Turkmen football players were warmly welcomed at the Jeddah airport by representatives of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation. Our team has at its disposal two comfortable buses with Ahal club merchandise, rooms in a five-star hotel, as well as a magnificent training field located near the main arena of the King Abdullah Sports City stadium, where all matches of the tournament will be held.

The Turkmen delegation consists of 36 people, including 26 football players who were included in the Ahal application for the upcoming AFC Champions League tournament: goalkeepers - Resul Charyev, Ovezmurad Ovezmuradov, Rustem Akhallyev, Mukhamed Ovezov; defenders - Gurbanguly Ashirov, Khoshgeldy Khodzhovov, Abdy Byashimov, Ata Geldiev, Shohrat Soyunov, Azatmukhamed Hojamukhamedov, Dayanch Nuryev; midfielders - Kurban Annaev, Elman Tagaev, Amir Gurbani, Resul Khodjaev, Mirza Beknazarov, Ibraiym Mammedov, Arzuvkuli Saparkuliyev, Serdar Geldiyev, Arslanmurad Amanov, Dovran Khodjamamedov, Dayanch Meredov; forwards - Shanazar Tirkishov, Meilis Diniev, Selim Nurmuradov, Didar Durdyev.

All matches of this tournament in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan will start in Saudi Arabia at a later time of the day. So, the opening match of Ahal with the bronze medalist of the UAE Football Championship of the 2020/21 season - Shabab Al-Ahly will begin on April 8 at 01:15 Ashgabat time.

Shabab Al Ahly is one of the most titled clubs in the United Arab Emirates. He is a seven-time UAE champion (1974/75, 1975/76, 1979/80, 2005/06, 2008/09, 2013/14, 2015/16), a ten-time UAE President's Cup winner (1975, 1977, 1988, 1996, 2002 , 2004, 2008, 2013, 2019, 2021), five-time winner of the UAE League Cup (2012, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2021) and the UAE Super Cup (2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020). In 2015, the team reached the final of the AFC Champions League for the first time, where they lost to the Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande with a score of 0:1.

In the second round on April 11, Ahal will play with the Qatari club Al-Gharafa, and on April 14 with the Iranian Fulad, which on the eve of this tournament was strengthened by a 32-year-old Spanish striker from Athletic (Bilbao).

Then the teams will play each other again from April 18 to April 27 in one more round.The winners of 10 groups and 3 best teams among the runners-up in both the Western and Eastern zones will advance to the 1/8 finals.

The last time Turkmen clubs played in the AFC Champions League was in 2003. Then the Ashgabat "Nisa" reached the quarterfinal group tournament, according to the results of which they could not break into the top four teams in Asia. And now, 19 years later, Ahal will represent Turkmenistan for the first time in the main Asian football club tournament. This became possible due to the fact that the team of the Main Department "Turkmennebitonumleri", the only one of all Turkmen clubs, was able to successfully pass the licensing for participation in the AFC Champions League-2022.

Last season, Ahal won the silver medals of the championship of Turkmenistan for the sixth time and for the first time in history reached the zonal final of the AFC Cup in Central Asia - the second most important club tournament on the Asian continent. And now he has to make his debut in the most prestigious club competition in Asia, participation in which will become a great school for our footballers in the growth of professional skills.