Nasaf kicks off campaign in Elite Champions League today

Today, September 15, Qarshi’s Nasaf club begins its campaign in the AFC Elite Champions League. The Uzbek club will face Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli team.

The ’’Dragons,’’ representing Uzbekistan in the Elite Champions League, will compete against one of Saudi Arabia’s strongest teams. The match will start at 23:15 Tashkent time and will be held at the King Abdullah Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Nasaf head coach Ruziqul Berdiev and goalkeeper Abduvohid Ne’matov attended a press conference on September 14 ahead of the match against Al Ahli.

’’We are in the AFC Champions League Elite competition. Starting tomorrow, we will begin our campaign. Our opponent, Al Ahli, is a strong team with great potential. Participating in a tournament like this is not new for Nasaf, we have previously faced strong opponents at the level of Al Ahli. Our team is capable of putting up a worthy fight against any opponent. We are fully prepared for tomorrow’s match, and the players are in good spirits. Of course, we will mobilize all our strength to achieve a positive result,’’ he said.

In addition, Ruziqul Berdiev responded to journalists’ questions about how the team prepared for the match against the reigning champion of the competition.

’’As I mentioned earlier, our opponent is a serious team, the competition champion. They recently also won the Saudi Arabian Super Cup, which demonstrates their strength and potential. We conducted our preparation accordingly. I believe that tomorrow’s result will also be positive,’’ he mentioned.

Here is the official schedule of Nasaf in the AFC Elite Champions League:

• Round 1 – September 15: Al-Ahli vs. Nasaf (away)
• Round 2 – September 29: Nasaf vs. Al-Hilal (home)
• Round 3 – October 21: Shabab Al-Ahli vs. Nasaf (away)
• Round 4 – November 3: Nasaf vs. Al-Wahda (home)
• Round 5 – November 24: Nasaf vs. Tractor (home)
• Round 6 – December 23: Al-Ittihad vs. Nasaf (away)
• Round 7 – February 9: Nasaf vs. Al-Shorta (home)
• Round 8 – February 16: Sharjah vs. Nasaf (away)