The new year has been marked by a real football boom in Turkmenistan. And there is nothing surprising about this. Turkmen people have always been true fans of this most popular sport.
Ask any representative of the «television» generation of the 60s and 70s of the last century, and they will easily name dozens of football stars of the past: Atamyrat Mammedov, Annaly Karadanov, Gurban Berdiyev, Vladimir Muntyan, Rinat Dasayev, David Kipiani, not to mention world stars Pele, Garrincha and Eusebio.
The good news about the upcoming AFC Cup 1/8 final match between «Arkadag» and «Al-Nasr» in Ashgabat was met with great enthusiasm by fans. This event gave impetus not only to the popularisation of sports, but also to the use of digital technologies in the organisation of mass events. For this event, specialists from the information services and digital technologies department of hakimlik of Ashgabat developed specialised software to ensure the match was held at a high technological level, specifically for online ticket sales. So, since the start of sales on the 19th of January, the phones of the head of the hakimlik department, Maksat Ashyrov, and his staff have not stopped ringing, and to this day. It is noteworthy that in the first few days of ticket sales alone, several thousand were sold.
The upcoming meeting, featuring world stars, is being held in Turkmenistan for the first time. Without a doubt, it will become a vibrant celebration that will further raise the prestige of our football. The creation of the «Arkadag» football club in the «smart» city of the same name was a logical continuation of large-scale Olympic movement of the country. Thanks to the constant attention and support of the National Leader of the Turkmen people, Hero-Arkadag, who is himself actively involved in sports, the club quickly reached an international level. Thanks to the success of the «Arkadag» footballers, fans in Turkmenistan today had the opportunity to witness the match, which will take place at the Olympic stadium on the 11th of February.
