The delegation of the “Ahal” football club left Ashgabat today for the group stage matches of the AFC Champions League-2021, which will be held from April 7 to 14 in a centralized format in Saudi Arabia.
According to the Türkmen Sport website, the “Ahal” team was met by representatives of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan at the Turkmenabat airport. Then the team went by bus to the Farap checkpoint, where they crossed the state border between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. In the coming days, Turkmen football players will leave Tashkent for Saudi Arabia by plane.
The silver medalist of the championship of Turkmenistan "Ahal" will play the group stage matches of the AFC Champions League in the city of Jeddah. In the 41st draw of the main club football tournament of the Asian Football Confederation, “Ahal” will play in Group “C”. The rivals of the Turkmen club will be “Fulad” (Iran), “Shabab Al-Ahli” (UAE) and “Al-Gharafa” (Qatar).
- 1st round: "Ahal" - "Shabab Al-Ahli" (April 7);
- 2nd round: "Al-Gharafa" - "Ahal" (April 10);
- 3rd round: "Foolad" - "Ahal" (April 14);
- 4th round: "Ahal" - "Foolad" (April 18);
- 5th round: "Shabab Al-Ahli" - "Ahal" (April 22);
- 6th round: "Ahal" - "Al-Gharafa" (April 26).
We remind that 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.
According to the tournament regulations, according to the results of the group stage, the winners of five groups from each zone, as well as three teams that took second places in their quartets with the best results, will advance to the 1/8 finals of the AFC Champions League.
In case of reaching the playoffs, the 1/8 finals match will be played by “Ahal” on February 3 or 4, 2023. The quarter-finals will take place on February 7, the semi-finals on February 10, 2023.
The AFC Champions League final will consist of two legs. The meetings will be held on February 19 and 26, 2023. The first game will take place in the “West” region, and the second leg will take place in the “East” zone.
