Football club Arkadag from Turkmenistan lost 2:3 away to Kuwaiti Al-Arabi in the final round of the group stage of the AFC Challenge League, but despite the defeat, retained first place in Group B and for the first time in its history advanced to the quarterfinals of the third most important club tournament in Asia.
The Kuwaiti champion opened the scoring in the 40th minute through Ali Khalaf, and in the second half increased the advantage to three goals thanks to a goal by Jomaa Aboud (49) and a converted penalty by Hamza Khaba (69). In the 71st minute, Al-Arabi was left in the minority. Arkadag managed to win back two goals thanks to the efforts of Begench Akmammedov (84 and 90+7), who came on as a substitute in the 80th minute, but did not have enough time for more.
At the end of the group stage, three teams, including Abdysh-Ata from Kyrgyzstan, scored six points each, but Arkadag outpaced its competitors with a better goal difference.
In the quarterfinals, which will be held in the spring of 2025, the Turkmen club will face East Bengal from India. The matches will be held on March 5 and 12 in a home-and-away format.
As for Al-Arabi, the team also advanced to the next stage of the tournament as the best among the runners-up in the Western Zone groups and will play Al-Seeb from Oman.
