Abahani Limited aims to play fearless football when they face FC Muras United of Kyrgyzstan in their opening preliminary round match of the AFC Challenge League at the National Stadium in Dhaka on Tuesday.
Six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani had a 26-day-long camp as part of their preparation ahead of Asia鈥檚 third-tier club competition.
On the other hand, Muras, who had won the Kyrgyzstan Cup in 2024 after being founded in the year before, are leading this season鈥檚 Kyrgyz Premier League after 15 matches.
The Sky Blues were bolstered by the signing of Malian forward Souleymane Diabate, who played for current BPL champions Mohammedan Sporting Club in the last six seasons.
Abahani participated in the AFC club competitions five times since 2017, and their best result was reaching the zonal semi-finals of the AFC Cup in 2019.
鈥楧estroying their defence will be the main challenge, and playing a fearless game will be the key to winning the match. We will try to maintain our win at home that we did in 2019 against April 25 SC of North Korea,鈥� said Abahani coach Maruful Haque at the pre-match press conference.
鈥楾hey are a new [club], but their style of play will be similar to European clubs. But I think they will need 15 to 20 minutes to understand their opponents in the game.鈥�
Muras鈥檚 Ukrainian coach Sergiy Puchkov vowed to prove their worth in their maiden appearance in AFC club competitions.
鈥榃e are very serious, as our team is participating in this tournament. We have prepared well and hope to win tomorrow. 鈥榃e are just a new team in our country, and I have been working for one year as
head coach, so it will be a good chance to show us in the Asian football,鈥� said Puchkov.
The Ukrainian also believed that it is always difficult to perform well in front of a home crowd.
鈥極f course, we will face a difficult match because it is easier to play in front of your own crowd.鈥�
When Puchkov was asked about his idea about Bangladesh football, he replied, 鈥楿nfortunately not, but I watched May 25鈥檚 match of Abahani.鈥�
However, in the day鈥檚 other preliminary round match, five-time BPL champions Bashundhara Kings will face Syrian club Al Karama SC at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha.
The match between Kings and Al Karama will begin at 11:30pm Bangladesh Standard Time.
Nine winners among the 18 participating teams from the preliminary round, eight sides that earned direct entry and three eliminated outfits from the AFC Champions League Two Preliminary Stage will compete in the 20-team group stage of the聽competition.