Ahal

Ahal are based in Anau, in the province that gives them their name, but the football is played elsewhere: with no ground of their own, they rent Ashgabat Stadium and its 20,000 seats in the capital. The arrangement has outlasted more than one version of the club.

Continuity has never been the strong point. The team withdrew from the championship after the 2005 season and did not reappear in the top flight until 2008, then missed 2009 before settling into the Ýokary Liga for good. Everything the club is known for has happened since that second return.

The title also opened the door to the AFC Champions League in 2022/23, though Ahal had already been out on the continent: in February 2015 they made their debut in the AFC Cup, drawn straight into the group stage. Home shirts are green throughout, away white.

The club dates from 1989, when it entered the Soviet Second League and stayed there until 1991. The first Turkmen championship, in 1992, brought a bronze medal — and then the team dissolved. Nothing was played under the name Ahal again until the 1998/99 season.