Founded in 2023, they haven’t lost a single match. They have 36 domestic victories to their name. They won the league and cup double in their debut season. Later this year, they’ll take the biggest step in their short history. They’ll be competing in the AFC Champions League 2, the equivalent of the Europa League.
While everyone is familiar with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, reigning Champions League holders Milan and many other European champions, the team with the best statistics could be a lesser-known club from the mysterious nation of Turkmenistan in Central Asia, FK Arkadag.
Statistically, they’re unbeatable. That’s the data. Founded only last year and named in honour of former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, FK Arkadag have been unstoppable. They have won 36 domestic titles in a row.
These triumphs have enabled them not to lose a single competitive match and to complete a league and cup double in their inaugural season, a feat almost unimaginable elsewhere. They’ve won it all, apart from two recent defeats to Shakhtar Donetsk and Ukraine’s Dnipro-1 in friendlies in February. There’s no trace of this on the Turkmenistan Football Federation website.
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That’s not surprising in a country where information is tightly controlled. Especially when it comes to a football club founded in honour of the undisputed father of the nation, according to an AFP report.
The energy-rich country is one of the most closed in the world, say human rights groups, with the Berdimuhamedows (father Gurbanguly and son, President Serdar Berdimuhamedow) exercising almost total control over all aspects of society. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow has built up an intense cult of personality during his 15-year presidency. He is now known by the title “Arkadag”, or “Hero of Protection”. The same name as the team and the pitch on which the matches are played.
Despite handing over the presidency to Serdar, Gurbanguly continues to rule in a de facto tandem with his son. He enjoys immense privileges as the official head of the Turkmen nation.
Arkadag, the football club named after him, plays its home games at the Arkadag Stadium in the new city of Arkadag, a mega-project built in his honour at an official cost of $5 billion.
In Turkmenistan, everything is huge and everything has a name. The city’s main monument is 43 metres high. It is topped by a golden statue of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on horseback.
Berdimuhamedov personally chose the team’s badge in the colours of the national flag. He also ‘advised’ other clubs to let go of their best players. According to the Spanish newspaper As, Didar Durdyyev, the league’s top scorer in 2022, said they had made him “an offer he couldn’t refuse”.
Arkadag’s supremacy hasn’t gone down too well with their rivals, who have realised that in addition to taking away the best players and reducing the potential of other teams in the league, there is another way to referee the game. FK Arkadag’s matches have been marred by controversial decisions.
