Footballers from Ashgabat's «Altyn Asyr» made a successful debut in the new Asian club tournament, beating Indian «East Bengal» 3-2 away in the preliminary round of the AFC Champions League.

Starting this season, the Asian Football Confederation has reformed club competitions on the continent, establishing three new ones: the elite AFC Champions League for the strongest clubs in terms of ranking, the second most important tournament - the AFC Champions League 2, and the lowest in rank - the AFC Challenge Cup.

Vice-champion of Turkmenistan «Altyn Asyr», having successfully passed licensing, applied for the AFC Champions League 2 - an analogue of the previously existing AFC Cup, in which the team of the «Turkmenaragatnashyk» agency reached the final in 2018. Yazguly Hojageldiyew team began their performance in the new tournament with a preliminary round consisting of one match.

«Altyn Asyr» opponents at this stage of the competition were «East Bengal», the winner of the Indian Super Cup. This club played unsuccessfully in the AFC Cup from 2004 to 2015, and in January 2024, it won its first national trophy in 12 years and returned to the Asian Cup arena after 9 years. The Indian club with a rich history dating back to 1920 was prepared for the match with «Altyn Asyr» by 55-year-old Spanish specialist Carles Cuadrat. At the pre-match press conference, he unexpectedly said:

«Even though «East Bengal» will be playing at home, we are not the favourites for the match», said C. Cuadrat, emphasising that many of his players will be playing in the AFC tournament for the first time, while «Altyn Asyr's» players already have enough experience of playing in it.

«However, we always adhere to the rule of 'never giving up' and will try to give our all to win in front of our fans», –concluded the head coach of «East Bengal».

The match between «Altyn Asyr» and «East Bengal» gathered 27,892 spectators at the stadium in Kolkata, who gave their team a powerful support. Inspired by such support, the home team quickly achieved success. In the 7^th minute, Nanhakumar Sekar made a magnificent cross to David Lalhlansanga, who hit the crossbar with his first header and opened the scoring with his second kick. The visitors responded with several sharp attacks. First, in the 12^th minute, Rahman Myratberdiyev could have scored. But his aimed shot into the right corner of the goal was parried by goalkeeper Singh Prabhsukhan. Four minutes later, Selim Nurmyradov burst into the penalty area with the ball. But his shot from the left inside position hit the net from the side.

The goal was brewing, and it happened in the 17^th minute: from the depth of the field, Rahman Myratberdiyev made a precise pass to Myrat Annayev, and he immediately sent the ball into the lower left corner of the goal - 1:1.

In the 27^th minute, Selim Nurmyradov made a brilliant free kick into the upper right corner of the goal, putting «Altyn Asyr» ahead - 2:1. With this result, the teams went to the break.

In the second half, the home team's situation worsened after a third goal was conceded in the 52^nd minute. This time, Mihail Titov scored, having no trouble rolling the ball from close range into the empty net after it had bounced off the goalkeeper after a shot by Myrat Annayev.

After 7 minutes, «East Bengal» reduced the gap to a minimum of 2:3 thanks to the individual actions of the team captain Saul Crespo, who successfully passed through the palisade of defenders in the penalty area and accurately shot into the far corner.

10 minutes before the end of the match, Clayton Silva, who came on as a substitute in the Indian team in the second half, scored the third goal, but it was not counted by the Australian FIFA referee Alex King due to a foul on goalkeeper Batyr Babayev.

In the remaining time, the «Altyn Asyr» footballers managed to maintain the winning score, which allowed the vice-champion of Turkmenistan to advance to the group stage of the AFC Champions League-2, all participants of which at this stage of the competition will receive 300 thousand US dollars. The opponents of «Altyn Asyr» in the group stage of the AFC Champions League-2 will be known based on the results of the draw, which will take place on the 16^th of August in Kuala Lumpur. During its holding, the team of the agency «Turkmenaragatnashyk» will be seeded in the fourth basket. The matches of the group stage of the AFC Champions League-2 will be held on the road from the 17^th of September to 5^th of December, 2024.

As for our other representatives in Asian club tournaments, the current champion and winner of the Turkmenistan Cup «Arkadag» will play in the third most important AFC Challenge Cup, the participants of the group round of which will receive 100 thousand US dollars each. «Arkadag» opponents will be determined on the 22^nd of August during the draw, following which the venues for the matches in the groups will be known. At the group stage of the tournament, the AFC Challenge Cup will be held in a centralized format from the 26^th of October to 2^nd of November, 2024.