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FK Arkadag, the invincibles from Turkmenistan

The club earned the attention of football fans all over the world with its unbelievable domestic results 

FK Arkadag. From Getty Images

Turkmenistan is a country in Central Asia that the western world knows very little of. It is home to 7 million people and declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 and has since then been ruled by yet another totalitarian regime, that of the Türkmenbaşy or "Head of the Turkmens", the President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov, who then died and left all power to his vice-president, who won a non-democratic election and now rules together with his own son.

The country, often criticized for its poor record as far as human rights are concerned, owes its wealth to the massive amount of natural resources it sits on, in particular gas, and to be fair the money earned through this export was used (until 2019) to provide free electricity and water to all citizens, although a lot of it was invested in the construction of surreal cities covered in white and gold that look like they were built by an alien civilization in a galaxy far away. For reference, this is what Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat looks like:

 

From aipsmedia.com

From trvlland.com

From wandersmiles.com

With this eccentric architecture in mind, current president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov decided in 2018 that the province of Ahal, which surrounds the capital Ashgabat, needed a new capital of its own. For this reason an entire new city was built, and named Arkadag (arka meaning "behind", and dag meaning "mountain") after the president's own title of protector. If you're curious to know what this new city looks like, it's not much different from close neighbour Ashgabat:

From casp-geo.ru
Since a city is nothing without a football club, the new place needed a team to represent the 64,000 new inhabitants of the area, so FK Arkadag was formed on April 1st, 2023 by mr. Berdimuhamedov himself. The president insisted a horse should be put on the badge because he apparently really likes the animal, to the point of pushing the Akhal-Teke horse, which is originally from Turkmenistan, as a National symbol in an attempt to strengthen the Turkmen National identity, even creating a festivity to celebrate horses.
The club was immediately put into the country's premier division, the Yokary Liga, but since the season was supposed to begin just two weeks after the club's foundation the transfer window was expanded to allow Arkadag to form a team, and so they did: in unsurprising fashion they went and poached all the best talents from the rest of the league, earning the love of all rival fans straight away.

As if the poaching wasn't enough, Turkmen football fans also felt that the new club was greatly favoured by the match officials, leaving the doubt that the league had already been decided before a ball had even been kicked. One of the most controversial moments came on November 2nd, when on matchday 17 last placed Sagadam were holding Arkadag, who still had a 16-0-0 record, to a 2-2 draw in their new shiny 10,000 seater Arkadag Stadium. When the match looked like it was going to end with an unexpected draw, the home side earned a controversial penalty to win the match and extend their perfect run, allowing them to finish their first ever season with a perfect 72 points from 24 matches and their first league title.

Arkadag, through its impeccable domestic season, earned qualification to the 2024-25 AFC Challenge League group stage, the third tier of continental competition in Asia. They were drawn in a group with Al-Arabi SC from Kuwait, Abdysh-Ata from Kyrgyzstan and Maziya from the Maldives. After winning the first two group stage matches, Arkadag lost 2-3 to Al-Arabi ending a streak of 61 consecutive wins from the club's foundation until then, but they still managed to qualify for the quarter finals, where they would play against East Bengal after topping their group. They've won the first leg 0-1 in India and will play the second at home on March 12th.
Oh, and for the record, in 2024 they had yet another perfect record in the Turkmeni league, winning all 30 of their matches. Arkadag is a weird club in a crazy country and it will be really interesting to find out how their journey will develop over the next few seasons. How long will their domestic domination last? How far will they go in Asian Competitions? Stay tuned to find out.

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