Turkmenistan national team and Ashgabat “Altyn Asyr” striker Murat Annayev made history by scoring the first goal for Central Asian teams in the group stage of the 2024/2025 AFC Champions League 2. This achievement was significant not only for “Altyn Asyr”, but also for the entire region, represented in the two most important AFC club tournaments – the AFC Elite Champions League and the AFC Champions League 2.
The historic moment came in the 70th minute of the away match against Iraqi Air Force in Baghdad. Annayev equalized the score after converting an assist from Hoshgeldy Hojovov. Despite the heroic efforts of the 31 years old forward, the match ended with a 2-1 victory for the home team when Hiran Ahmed scored the decisive goal two minutes before the end of regulation time.
Annayev's goal was the only bright spot for the Central Asian teams participating in the group stage of both the AFC Elite Champions League and the AFC Champions League 2.
Other representatives of the region were unable to distinguish themselves: Tashkent's “Pakhtakor” lost to “Al-Wasl” from the UAE (0:1), Dushanbe's “Istiklol” lost to “Al-Sharjah” from the UAE (0:1), and Karshi's “Nasaf” and Kulyab's “Ravshan” played to a 0:0 draw with “Al-Kuwait” and “Mohun Bagan”, respectively.
