Bashundhara Kings will play Sharjah FC in the opening round of the AFC Champions League today at Sharjah Stadium. This will be the first time a Bangladeshi team has played in the tournament.
The game will start at 9:30 p.m. Bangladeshi time.
In the last two seasons, the Bangladesh Premier League winners couldn’t get past the group stage of the AFC Cup. This is because their first showing in Asia’s second-best club tournament was canceled because of the pandemic. This time, though, they went straight into the first round of the top club tournament on the continent.
Sharjah FC has some of the best players in the world, like Miralem Pjanic of Bosnia, Kostas Manolas of Greece, and Paco Alcacer of Spain, along with a few good Brazilians. This will make it hard for Oscar Bruzon’s team to win.
The team from the UAE played four friendly games last month to get ready. They beat Al Ahli of Qatar 3-0, Al Bateeh of the UAE 1-0, Csikszereda of Romania 2-0, and Mezokovesd of Hungary 1-1.
The hosts also didn’t lose any of last year’s three AFC Champions League games at Sharjah Stadium.
“Not only is it a big game for Bashundhara Kings, but it’s also a big game for Bangladesh, and we’re ready to fight to win,” said Asror Gafurov, an Uzbek defender for the Kings.
Saad Uddin, a defender, said the same thing: “We’ve been playing together for a year, and everyone gets along well. So, we feel good about the game and are eager to show what we can do.
If Kings beat Sharjah FC, a team that has been in the group stage of the AFC Champions League for the last three years, they will play Tractor FC of Iran in a play-off match next week to get into the group stage.