November 3 – From the start in April, it has been a challenging competition to get played with multiple re-arrangements, but Friday (November 5) will see the final of the AFC Cup, the Asian confederation’s second tier club competition, played in Bahrain.
The last two standing are Bahrain’s Muharraq Club and Uzbekistan’s FC Nasaf, both of whom are aiming to lift the title for the second time at the Sheikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium.
Having been forced to abandon the competition in 2020 which the pandemic hit, the AFC repeatedly committed to the competition this year, encouraging its member associations and their clubs to do everything possible to get matches played as they confronted their own, local, covid-19 restrictions.
Starting in April with preliminary rounds, the competition then progressed through 10 groups in centralised locations, before the zonal finals and inter-zonal semi-finals were completed at the end of October.
It has been a triumph of organisation and commitment to the AFC’s competition structures.
Muharraq Club are the only Bahraini club to compete in the AFC Cup have qualifyied for the final for a third time, having finished runners-up in 2006 before winning in 2008.
FC Nasaf are returning to the final for the first time in a decade after winning the AFC Cup in 2011 – the only Uzbekistan side to win a Continental club trophy.
The winner of the final will qualify for the AFC Champions League 2022.
Muharraq Club topped their group earlier in the campaign and proved their title credentials when they defeated title holders Al Ahed of Lebanon 3-0 in the West Zonal Semi-finals and continued their dominance with a 2-0 win against Al Kuwait in the West Zonal Final.
FC Nasaf were equally impressive in their journey to the final after emphatically defeating ATK Mohun Bagan of India 6-0 in the Inter-Zone Semi-finals. Their Inter-Zone Final was not so straightforward and took a 3-2 win in extra-time to knockout Hong Kong’s Lee Man.
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