Rays from the Ruggedness: The Story of FC Ravshan Kulob and Football in Tajikistan

FC Ravshan Kulob clinched the Tajik Cup in 2020 whilebeing in the Second Division (Courtest: the-afc.com)

Surrounded by the Turkic speaking countries of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan on the left and up top, China to the East and Afghanistan to the South, lies modern day Tajikistan, a mountainous Central Asian nation known for its rugged landscapes, Persian cultural heritage, and the legacy of the ancient Silk Road that once traversed its terrain.

Despite being the smallest country in Central Asia, Tajikistan offers a plethora of natural and cultural wonders. Its towering peaks, including the Pamir Mountains often called the 'Roof of the World', offer breathtaking vistas. The country's history stretches back millennia, with ancient sites like Sarazm showcasing early urban settlements, while medieval fortresses and ornate mosques reflect its Islamic heritage.

Today, Tajikistan faces the challenges of modernisation while striving to preserve its unique identity. This article introduces the history and culture of Tajikistan, the introduction and integration of Football in that culture and then a deep dive into a major powerhouse of Tajiki Club Football, Ravshan Kulob FC, and concluded by a Preview into their upcoming Asian Champions League 2 Group Stage game against Indian Footballing Giants Mohun Bagan.

An Introduction to Tajikistan

The Tajik Identity

The Samanid Ruler Mansur I (961-976) (Courtesy: Rashid-al-Din Hamadani via Wikipedia)

Culture of Central Asia in the last two millennia has been shaped by two major forces, the Turkic influence coming down from the step and Persian influence coming up from the South. 

The region of modern day Tajikistan has witnessed many civilisations and empires, from the Achaemenids, the Scythians, the Sasanids, followed by Alexander the Great, the Turks, the Chinese, the Arabs and the Mongols. Many religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism were practised in that region until the arrival of Islam with the Arab invasions.

These Arab invasions were largely conducted by Persians, which explains why Persian became the language of the stationary city dwelling communities unlike the travelling nomads of the region. The language of this city dwellers influenced from Persian eventually developed to the Tajik language. It is similar to the Farsi and the Dari languages spoken in Iran and Afghanistan respectively.

Modern day Tajikistan can be divided into four parts, the North which is part of the fertile Fargana valley, the moderately mountainous Central region in which resides the capital Dushanbe, the Southern warmer part where most of the population resides and the Eastern highly mountainous region known as the Pamirs.

Ruthless Russia

A Poster Circulated in the Tajik SSR with the text "All to the Election", 1957.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Russian Empire took over Central Asia. Their influence wasn’t felt much in the region until the Great War (World War I) when a lot of Tajiks were sent to the battlefields in Europe. There was a tremendous loss of life among the young Tajik men.

In 1917, the Russian Revolution happened which led to the end of the Russian Monarchy and the adoption of Socialism. As with the rest of the USSR, there was collectivisation (state ownership and redistribution of land) and implementation of other Soviet schemes. The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) lost between four to eight percent of its population during the Second World War when the men were conscripted to fight in various battles.

The Tajik SSR saw little to no industrial development. Central Asia was a resource rich region and it used to give more to than it got from the Soviet Leadership at Moscow. Religion was suppressed; Islam didn’t go away, but it got isolated from mainstream Muslim society.

However, the living conditions at the Tajik SSR, although not ideal, were comparatively better than the Tajiks living in the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and Iran. Still, Tajikistan remained the poorest Republic in the USSR.

Women’s status in society, on relative terms, was better than many other Muslim societies, especially in comparison to their aforementioned neighbours, but has only declined after Tajikistan’s independence, which it gained suddenly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

A Sour Independence

An anti-government rally at Shakhidon square, Dushanbe in May 1992 (Courtesy: By RIA Novosti archive via Wikipedia)

Within a year it fell into a deadly Civil War. The reasons behind the Civil War are complex, and it is debated whether the war was fought on religious or regionalistic lines due to the nuanced and at times paradoxical nature of the conflict.

The Pro-Government side featured the former Communists who wanted to preserve their privileges, secular people who were afraid of Islamism and Ethnic Minorities such as the Uzbeks who were afraid of Tajiki Nationalism.

The Opposition consisted of Islamists and Liberal Democratic Reformers, some elements of which having allied themselves with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. The Tajiki Government also got help from the Government of Uzbekistan who were paranoid of the expansion of Islam into their country.

The regional split involved the Northern Part of Tajikistan centred around Khujand (formerly Leninabad), the country’s wealthiest city, the Western region of Regar and the South Eastern region of Kulob which had historically dominated the Government against the more rural, poorer and religious regions of the South West and the Rasht Valley, along with the Pamir region to the East who were culturally and religiously different and had early on declared themselves independent from the Central Government and fighting for autonomy instead.

The conflict rapidly became clan based, especially in the South. War lords got cheap arms from Afghanistan and carved out their own territories. Villages and its residents were mercilessly plundered.

The Regional Divisions of the Tajik Civil War. In Red, the Pro-Government regions, in Yellow, the Opposition and the Pamirs highlighed in Purple (Courtesy: Alex Rothman via YouTube)

Initially, the Opposition forced the then President Nabiyev to establish a coalition Government, and then held him at gunpoint to submit his resignation, which he did. But soon enough the pro-Government Regari-Kulobi Popular Front forces, owing to better support and resources eventually secured its control within a year over the Government.

They elected a new government under the leadership of Emomali Rahmonov, representing a shift from the old power at Leninabad to the militias from Kulob, from which Rahmon came. The war went on till 1997 when a peace treaty was signed owning to mediation from Russia and the United States of America. Various reports suggest casualties totalled as much as 100,000.

Rahmon (he removed the -ov suffix from his name to align with his efforts to create a Nationalistic Tajiki identity while actively discouraging Islamic identity through various curtails) managed to secure his power by bending the laws to curtail democracy and is still the President on Tajikistan today. There is rampant corruption and nepotism in the Authoritarian Government with multiple human rights violations.

Employment is scarce in modern day Tajikistan. Around 1-2 million of the 9.5 million population of Tajikistan are migrants, mostly in Russia, and remittances (money sent back to families from people working abroad) constitutes half of the entire GDP of the country.

Football in Tajikistan

Introduction and Adoption

Kids playing Football at a small town in Tajikistan (Courtesy: Alex Rothman via Youtube)

Football in Tajikistan started to develop in the 1920s and the Tajikistan Football Federation was established in 1936. The Tajiki Championship, established in 1937, was played for in a regional league without the presence of the clubs representing the republic at the National levels till the country got Independence. The first ever Champion of the Tajik League in 1937 was Dinamo Stalinabad, who renamed to Dynamo Dushanbe in 1971.

The first Tajik Cup competition was held in 1938, when Dinamo Stalinabad won the final 4-0 over Spartak Leninabad. Dinamo participated in Soviet football's National Championship for the first time in 1947, where they competed in the Central Asian zone group, alongside Spartak Tashkent, ODL Tashkent, Lokomotiv Ashgabat, a team from Frunze, and a team from Alma Ata. Dinamo won the group with a points total of 25. 

In September that year, the winners of the six zonal tournaments travelled to Moscow for it to be decided which club would compete in the first group of the 1948 USSR championship. Unfortunately, the Tajik players finished only fifth. The Dinamo players who took part in the National Championship were B. Boyko, G. Titov, N. Meshcheryakov, A. Sokolov, F. Rukavishnikov, K. Zakharov, M. Meekin, E. Kuzmin, V. Leichenko, K. Pogorelov, AP Babich, B. Fomichev, Yu Piskunyan, N. Emelianov.

SKA-Pamir Dushanbe were the only football club from Tajik SSR who competed in the USSR Top League for three seasons in a row from 1989 to 1991. Between 1974 and 1992, numerous Tajik footballers played for the USSR national football team and the CIS national football team.

Post Independence Developments

Courtesy: Wikipedia

Post Indepence and after the Civil War, the Tajik League and Tajik Cup restarted in 1992. Tajikistan's National Football Federation was re-established two years later. The first football match of independent Tajikistan was against Uzbekistan, a 2-2 draw. Tajikistan's national football team achieved success in 1993, finishing third in the ECO Cup.

They also did well in the 1998 Asian Games, reaching the second round. The biggest performance, however, came from becoming the victors of the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup. Performance in future Challenge Cup appearances was satisfactory, with a Runners Up finish in the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup and a third-place finish in 2010. Tajikistan's national under-17 football team won bronze in the AFC U-17 Championship in 2006 and advanced to the round of 16 in the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Championship.

Tajikistan qualified for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time in 2023 and managed to reach the Quarter-Finals in their first attempt at the Competition. They finished second in a group which had China, Lebanon and Qatar, then beat UAE on penalties in the Round of 16, before losing to Jordan by a disappointing solitary own goal.

The biggest stadium in terms of capacity in Tajikistan today is the Bistsolagii Istiqloliyati (20 Years of Independence) stadium in Khujand. It seats 25,000 spectators and is the home ground of FC Khujand. The next two biggest stadiums are the Pamir Stadium in Dushanbe which hosts the Tajikistan National Football Team, Tajiki club football giants Istiklol Dushanbe and CSKA Pamir Dushanbe, along with the Langari Langarieva Stadium in the historically and socio-politically significant southern city of Kulob, and is the home ground of FC Ravshan Kulob.

The Rays of FC Ravshan Kulob

Origin, Name Changes and Initial Decades

The various logos formerly and currently used by Ravshan Kulob (Courtesy: Copyright belongs to Respective Owners of FC Ravshan Kulob's Intellectual Property)

The predominantly Indian audience of this article might be familiar with the word Roshan. Yes, Roshan, which means 'a positive bright light' is of Persian origin. It is regarded that the Tajik word of Ravshan, which also has the same meaning, also shares the same word origin.

The club were not originally named Ravshan when it was established in 1965. It was founded as FK Ansol Kulob. In 2003, they were renamed as FK Olimp-Ansol Kulob. Olimp are a major bookmaker based out of Kazakhstan. That lasted for two years, after which FC Ravshan Kulob became their official name.

Ravshan are definitely not the first major football club to have risen out of the Kulob region. A club referred to as 'Kulyab' featured in consecutive semi-finals of the Tajik Cup in 1940 and 1941. On both occasions they could not reach the final, getting eliminated 11-1 by Dinamo Stalinabad in 1940. It is unknown which club won over them in the semis of the 1941 edition of the Tajik Cup.

Kulyab again got themselves eliminated at the same stage of the Tajik Cup some 7 years later, this time losing 8-0 to Gissar. A year later they made it to the First Division of Tajiki Football where they finished dead last with all games lost. They scored 5 while conceding 52 goals from 7 games.

Kulyab got lost to history, so were the initial decades of FC Ravshan Kulob. Details of FC Ravshan Kulob from 1965-1992 are non-existent on the Internet, atleast on the English language. If any reader of this piece has access to some source having any knowledge on this aspect of the club and is willing to share that, the author can be contacted at avik.chatterjee2904@gmail.com or via Direct Messages in X (Twitter).

Performances post-Independence and the First Major Trophy

Ravshan's Performances in the 1993 and 1994 Tajikistan National League and the Tajik Cup (Courtesy: RSSSF)

In 1984, Ravshan Kulob finished 9th out of 16 teams in the top tier of Tajiki Club Football. However, it was only the fourth tier of the Soviet Footballing Pyramid. The best Tajiki clubs of that time such as Pamir Dushanbe played in the second tier of Soviet Football while Pahtakor Kurgan-Tyube and Hojent Leninabad played in the third tier.

Ravshan scored 69 goals that season, while conceding a costly 55 which led to an accumulation of 29 points, 20 points behind Champions Trikotazhnik. The next record to exist comes from after Tajikistan's Independence when Ravshan Kulob withdrew from the League owing to political reasons in the backdrop of the Tajiki Civil War, with the region of Kulob being involved significantly in the conflict.

They finished 11th out of 16 in the 1993 edition of the First Tier, again with 29 points formed from 12 victories and 5 draws. They made it to the Final of the Tajik Cup, beating Pakhtakor Proletarsk 2-1 in the Semi-Finals. The scoreline after extra time in the Final was 0-0, and the match went to penalties, where Sitora Dushanbe, the League Premiers of that season, just managed to edge past Ravshan, beating them 5-4 in the shootout.

Ravshan fared 12th in the League next season with 21 points and a negative Goal Difference of 30, but somehow again managed to enter the final of the Tajik Cup. It was a hard fought 2-1 victory over Khosilot Parkhar in the Semi-Finals, and they had to face Shodmon Ghissar in the Final who finished 5th in the League with a positive Goal Difference of 39. Ravshan Kulob secured a 2-1 victory and were crowned the 1994 Tajik Cup Champions, which on Wikipedia is listed as their first ever (more likely first major) trophy.

The trophy win definitely gave immense momentum and motivation as Ravshan improved their position in the 1995 League, this time finishing 7th out of 15 teams with 41 points. Next season, they were Fourth out of the sixteen participants with 63 points, 10 points off the Champions Dinamo Dushanbe, and only a point behind third placed Khojent.

1997 saw Ravshan finish 6th out of 13 teams. However, they are nowhere to be found in the League Table of 1998 in records. Reasons were not sourcable but it was all back to normalcy as they can be spotted at the Third spot in the 1999 table, only 11 points off Champions Varzob Dushanbe. I. Isakov was Ravshan's top scorer that season; he netted 18 of the 62 goals scored by the team.

Financial Turmoil at the Turn of the Millenium

The turn of the millennium brought along with it a sub-par 8th placed finish in the now reduced 10 team league where they totalled 33 points from 34 games. This was a clear indicate of troubles which had started to brew internally, especially financial. The situation became so grave that Ravshan Kulob had to pull out of the 2001 Tajikistan National League.

Ravshan could not participate for the four National League seasons between 2001-04. That is when the deal with bookmakers Olimp could be secured and fielding a team in the First Division became financially plausible.

Ravshan helped themselves 10 points clear of Relegation in the 2005 Season, finishing 8th out of 10 teams with 17 points from 18 games. Olimp then pulled themselves out due to reasons unsourcable and the club got renamed to its current identifier, FC Ravshan Kulob.

This also probably meant that it became, yet again, financially impossible to take part in the League as Ravshan remain absent from 2006 records. They did not take part next season too but did reach the Round of 16 of the Tajik Cup where they were obliterated 10-1 by Hima Dushanbe in the first leg itself. The Second Leg was most likely not played.

The Invincibles of Tajikistan and a Taste of Asia

Ravshan's Performances in the 2012 and 2013 Tajikistan National League and the Tajik Cup (Courtesy: RSSSF)

Guess who's back? Ravshan Kulob to the Tajiki Top Tier. Ahead of the 2008 season, Hima Dushanbe withdrew before the start of the season and were replaced by FC Ravshan Kulob. Ravshan barely managed to stay afloat in the league, finishing bottom last with 27 points forming out of 7 wins and 6 draws out of 40 games, scoring 43 while conceding 103 goals. They lost 8-1 to Saroykamar, 7-1 and 7-3 to Regar and 7-1 to Energetik. To increase the length of the competition, the 11 teams back then played each other four times in a season.

Due to whatever reason, this format was dropped next season and Ravshan fared 7th out of 10 teams with 17 points from 18 games. In the 2010 season, the four legged format was brought back with 9 teams and there was no relegation, else Ravshan wouldn’t have been able to stay in the top flight as they ended bottom of the table with a grand total of 6 points from 32 games. 1 win (4-1 drubbing of Parvoz, who finished second from bottom with 24 points), 3 draws, 28 defeats, 18 scored, 95 conceded.

Due to some major team building initiatives and gradual investment, Ravshan were now determined to not embarrass themselves again like that. The comeback was sensational. 29 wins, 2 draws and 9 defeats totalled 89 points and a third placed finish at the end of the 2011 season. Tajiki giants Istiqlol Dushanbe were the Champions with 108 points.

2012 was their season. It started off with a 2-0 win over Zarafshon, but was followed by a 3-1 defeat to new promotees Istaravshan. Next game, Fc Ravshan Kulob made a statement victory, a 1-0 hard fought win over none other than Istiqlol. They would win the next 8 games back to back, followed by a 0-0 draw against Regar.

Ravshan Kulob lost 5-0 to Al-Ramtha in 2013 AFC Cup (Courtesy: Asia Plus)

Two wins later, they actually lost to Regar 1-0 away. And that was it, their last defeat of the season. They would draw 2-2 against Parvoz and win all other matches, ending with 62 points from 24 matches (20 victories, 2 draws, 2 defeats), one point over Runners Up Regar - TadAZ Tursunzade. FC Ravshan Kulob were the 2012 Tajik Championship Premiers.

This would welcome Ravshan to the AFC Cup for the first time in its history. However, rather expectedly, they were unprepared to perform in front of Asia. The got placed in a group of Al Ramtha SC from Jordan, Al Shorta SC from Iraq and Qadsia FC of Kuwait in a home-away round robin format.

Ravshan lost all their games. 0-1 and 5-0 to Al-Ramtha, 2-0 and 1-3 to Al-Shorta and 3-0 and 1-3 to Qadsia SC. They conceded 17 and the two goals, first against Shorta and the other against Qadsia, both at home were netted by Takyi in the second minute in front of 4000 home supporters and by Tukhtasunov respectively.

Ravshan would go on to write their own invincibles story a season later. Zero defeats, four draws, 14 wins. It was an unbreakable team built on an astute defensive shape and effective attacking. They scored only 26 goals from 18 games while conceding only 5, the Runners Up Istiqlol scoring 47 and conceding only 8.

Thus, they got entry to the AFC Cup again, this time Grouped with Lebanese Safa SC, Jordanian That Ras and Omani Al-Suwaiq. They lost all their games again, 3-1 and 0-5, 2-3 and 5-1, and 1-2 and 8-0 against the respective clubs. Takyi and Hakimov scored two each and the fifth was scored by Gafforov.

Relegation

There is little to no information on the Internet as to what happened the year later. The author will try to approach individuals passionate in Tajiki football to get to know more about the situation that transpired, but somehow Ravshan Kulob finished dead last in the 2014 Tajik Championship (2 wins, 3 draws from 18 games).

If that wasn’t astonishing enough, they were not only not relegated but also finished third in the 2015 Season. They also made it to the Semi Finals of the Tajik Cup, the Domestic Cup Competition of Tajikistan, but lost 10-0 in aggregate to Istiqlol.

Again, if that was not surprising enough, the next season they again performed exactly same as they did in 2014, but this time got actually relegated. They entered the Semi Finals of the Tajik Cup again, and were eliminated by Istiqlol yet again, this time at a comparatively respectable aggregate of 4-0.

Now apparently they got relegated again, this time from the Second Division of the Tajiki Footballing Pyramid. They conceded 100 goals (the second worst goals concessions from among all teams that season was 52) and lost 16 of the 22 games played. Data for the lower divisions of Tajiki football could not be found on the Internet for the 2018 season, but Ravshan were spotted again in the 2019 Second Division, implying they secured promotion to the Second Division. They finished 6th out of 14 teams with 15 wins from 26 games played.

The Convincing Come Back and Return to Asia

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Good times were back again in 2020. Ravshan secured promotion with 51 points from 22 games played in the Second Division. However, a sensational run to glory unfolded in the Domestic Cup Competition.  It started with a 3-2 win over FK Fayzkand Hulbuk in the Preliminary Round, followed by a 3-2 win over Panjsher Balkh, nicknamed the Five Lions.

They faced familiar foes Istiqlol Dushanbe, the biggest Tajiki club, and what a game it was. 2-2 at full time and Ravshan Kulob scoring 2 more in Extra Time. Second Division Ravshan were now in the Top 4, ready to face another heavyweight Regar-TadAZ. Result: 1-0. To the Final!

It was a battlefield, both Ravshan and Vakhsh Bokhtar (who fared 5th in the Top Division) gave their all on the Field. Bokhtar had won the Tajik League in 1997, 2005 and 2009, the SSR Tajik League in 1961 and 1985, the SSR Tajikistan Cup in 1965 and the Tajik Cup in 1997 and 2003, and were desperate at this rare opportunity of getting silverware again, but a mistake in the 66th minute led to their opponents Ravshan Kulob getting awarded a penalty, which was swiftly converted by Daler Shomurodov. Second Division Ravshan Kulob thus became the 2020 Tajik Cup Champions.

It wasn’t the only Cup Competition they would take part in the Final of that season. They also found themselves pitted against Kuktosh Rudaki who had finished 4th in the Top Division that season at the Tajikistan Football Federation Cup, which they lost.

One might wonder why there were no disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That can be attributed to their authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon who asserted that the disease had not breached the country and did not impose any lockdown initially. However, ground reality was far from ideal. 

FC Ravshan Kulob clinched the Tajik Cup in 2020 whilebeing in the Second Division (Courtest: the-afc.com)

In March and April of 2020, when the Tajik officials were denying any COVID presence, numerous press reports and social media posts brought forward cases of a large number of people being ill with a new respiratory disease, many of them dying. The Government address such illnesses as pneumonia, the sharp increase in number being attributed to ‘exceptionally rainy weather conditions.’

Doctors who reported their concerns were harassed and intimidated. By August they couldn’t hide it anymore, and a comparatively preventable disaster led to 65 ‘official’ deaths from 8000+ infections. The country declared itself COVID free on 8 February, 2021. On July 22, reports emerged that the President’s own sister had passed away from COVID. Eventually a total of 17,786 infections and 125 deaths were officially reported from the Government.

Back to football, Ravshan Kulob were in the top division of Tajiki Football again… and the barely escaped relegation again; only by 3 points. They won 7 and drew 8 from 27 games in the Triple Round Robin formatted League of 2021. Ravshan reached the Semi Finals of the Tajik Cup, bowing down 4-2 in aggregate to FC Khujand who were Runners Up in the Top Division that season and went on to win the 2021 Tajik Cup, defeating Istiklol 2-0 in the final.

Not only that, since they had won the 2020 Tajik Cup while being in the second division, they had earned a Continental spot in the 2021 AFC Cup, where they were pitted against Ahal FK of Turkmenistan and FC Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan in Group E played at the Dolen Omurzakov Stadium in Bishkek. Every team would play each other only once, the Group winner advancing to the Zonal Playoffs. Ravshan lost both their games, 3-1 to Ahal and 3-0 to Dordoi.

Ravshan improved their position next year, finishing Runners Up. A new format was introduced where after a Double Round Robin play, the 10 teams would be divided half into the Championship and Relegation Groups and would play each other once. Ravshan ended up second with 9 wins, 8 draws and 5 defeats from 22 games and 13 points behind Premiers Istiklol Dushanbe. Abdixalil Boronov was their top scorer who contributed 9 of the 26 goals scored by Ravshan.

Abdysh-Ata Kant secure a 1-0 victory over FC Ravshan Kulob in 23/24 AFC Cup (Courtesy: the-afc.com)

They were eliminated 1-0 in the Quarterfinals of the Tajik Cup by eventual Champions Istiklol. Ravshan won the Super Cup in 2022, a one of match between the League Premiers and Cup Champions, but since Istiklol won both, the Runners Up of the League became the opponent and surprisingly won 1-0.

It was 9 wins, 8 draws, 5 defeats for Ravshan Kulob again in the 2023 Edition of the Tajik First Division, formally called the Tajikistan Higher League. Istiklol were Champions again with 52 points. Ravshan got the chance to win the Tajik Cup again, but lost to Istiklol on penalties. Thus they got to play the Super Cup again in similar fashion, only to lose 2-1 to Istiklol. They were also eliminated in the Tajikistan Football Federation (TFF) Cup in the Semi-Finals to Panjsher.

Faring Runners Up at the Tajikistan Higher League allowed Ravshan to play Continental Football again, and this time they clinched their first ever points in Asia. They drew 0-0 and 1-1 against Turkmenistani club Merw Mary, 1-1 against Altyn Asyr who are also based at Turkmenistan, and lost twice to Kyrgyzstani Abdysh-Ata Kant at a scoreline of 1-0 and 1-0 against Altyn Asyr on their final match, thus ending up at bottom of the Group again.

This season, Ravshan have already won the TFF Cup courtesy of a solitary goal by Bakhtiyor Zaripov against Hosilot. In the League, Ravshan are now having a tricky season. With 15 games played, and only 7 left, Ravshan find themselves in 5th position with 27 points. However, they are only two points behind current second placed CSKA Pamir. Istiklol currently are at the top of the table with 14 wins and a solitary defeat to FC Khujand in their latest (15th) League game.

Ravshan Today: Team Analysis

FC Ravshan Kulob training in Kolkata 🏋💪

📷 [@raysportzbangla ] pic.twitter.com/zOeZCfjvIZ

— Mohun Bagan Hub (@MohunBaganHub) September 17, 2024

Ravshan Kulob will play their next League game on the 22nd of September against Istaravshan, but before that, they find themselves in the City of Kolkata on the eve 18th of September, set to face none other than the National Club of India, Mohun Bagan at their (and also Mohun Bagan’s) inaugural game of the first edition of the rechristened Second Tier of Asian Continental Football.

On arrival at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Ravshan Defensive Midfielder Samuel Ofori said to Ray Sportz that “we have worked really hard; our plan to stop Mohun Bagan is our secret… on Wednesday we are going to (execute) our plan on the pitch.”

Coached by the Iranian Masoud Nazarzadeh, Ravshan’s 33 member squad features 6 foreigners, namely Forward Kojo Matic (Bosnian), Defenders Kristian Mocic (DF), Samuel Ofori (Ghanaian), Siddiq Kamal Issah (Ghanaian) and Andriy Markovych (Ukrainian), and Goalkeeper Yevhen Hrytsenko (Ukrainian), and 4 players holding dual nationalities.

Their promiment domestic players include their 25 year old Forward and Kulob-born Mukhammadzhon Rakhimov, who was in Ravshan’s youth setup until 2016, after which he played for four years at Istiklol between 2017 and 2021 and again between 2022-23, moving to Nasaf and Bukhara in Uzbekistan and then joining Ravshan this season, 22 year old Midfielder Masrur Kiyomidinov who joined Ravshan last season from Belarussian club FC Naftan, and 30 year old Defender Kholmurod Nazarov who now is in his second stint with Ravshan after leaving Ravshan in 2021 for another Tajiki club Kuktosh Rudaki before rejoining Ravshan last season.

Interestingly, Ravshan did not contribute a single player in the latest squad of the Tajikistan National Team which took part in the 2024 Merdeka Tournament. In the last 12 months, Defender Nazarov was part of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup squad.

A familiar face in Indian Football, especially to Mohun Bagan fans to also feature in that Asian Cup Squad was none other than Komron Tursunov who has 6 goals to his name across 28 International caps and has played for the Tajiki clubs Istiklol, Regar-TadAZ as well as Khujand, while having plied his trade for Bagan (brought after his brilliant perfomances at Istiklol), TRAU, Rajasthan United, Churchill Brothers and Gokulam Kerala in India.

The three at-the-back build upformation of Ravshan (Courtesy: FC Ravshan Kulob YT Channel)

Ravshan in their latest game against Eskhata Khujand fielded Hrytsenko at goal, Nazarov, Giyosov, and Issah as CBs, Andriy at RWB, Murodov at LWB, Maksumov as a Box to Box Mid Fielder, Ofori as a Defensive Midfielder, Attacker Captain Rakhimov at a free Midfield to Forward role, Sultonov and Matic as the dynamic striker partnership.

On the bench were GK Rakhmatulloev, DFs Toshev, Khurshed and Khaitov, MFs Mawutor (dual citizen of Ghana and Tajikistan), Mirakhmadov, Kiyomidinov (dual citizen of Tajikistan and Russia), Ashurmamadov (dual citizen of Tajikistan and Russia) and Murodov, FWs Safarov and Zaripov.

Ravshan started the game with 3 mean at the back. Issah at LCB, Nazarov as the 'Center' CB and Giyosov at RCB. Nazarov is a composed defender, although not physical, but intelligent enough to know when to hold on to a ball and when not to, mostly finding cheeky solutions to mitigate the opposition press.

Giyosov looks dependable too with a cautious approach while Issah can at times become a weak link. He is built heavily, thus isn't quite agile and can be relatively easily be dribbled past by a rapid winger when caught off position, which is not rare.

Samuel Ofori, the Defensive Midfielder is quite confident on the ball too. He has the tools to manoeuvre the opposition through his crisp turns and able physique and pace. His partner on the Mid Field is Maksumov, who is comparatively stationed a bit more forward on average but makes himself available at defense during turnovers due to his high stamina to continually run up and down the pitch.

Attacking build up formation of Ravshan (Courtesy: FC Ravshan Kulob YT)

Left Wing Back Murodov also works tirelessly up and down the Left Wing and occassionally cuts or inverts into the midfield and attempts a long ranger once in a while. The heart of the creativity lies at the feet of the omnipresent-in-attack Captain Rakhimov, who is arguably Ravshan's best player on pitch.

His passing is exquisite, his close control magic. Combine that with sudden burts of acceleration and you have Tajik prime Hugo Boumous in your team. That's the first direct comparison most Indian Football fans would agree on after seeing him play. He has a bias to operate more on the right half of the field where he combines brilliantly with the RWB Andriy.

The team prefers to have possession and is quite patient in build up. Nazarov just keeps the ball to himself at times and does not budge until the opposition forward pushes a bit. He often tries to find Rakhimov directly, if not, tries to find one of the wing backs.

The team likes to operate on a mixture of short passes as well as sudden long balls, flank switches and lots of crosses from the wing backs (they are quite good at it). Of the ball, they are very hardworking. Each and every single player has good chemistry with each other to launch an effective press where everyone knows the zonal limits in which they are allowed to press, which doesn't mess up their structure too much.

The Situation for Mohun Bagan

ACL2 PC CLICKS 📸

Pic Courtesy : Arijeet Ganguly#JoyMohunBagan #MBFT pic.twitter.com/Xq1eW89UPU

— MBFT : Mohun Bagan (@MBFT89) September 17, 2024

So now lets address the elephant in the room. What we observed till now is eerily similar to how Mohun Bagan has been playing since the start of the 23/24 season. This is an approach which at times have worked brilliantly (Back to back wins in the first five ISL 23/24 matches) but also has suffered significantly when players at key roles became injured and their replacements did not have the tactical or technical ability to perform in such a system.

That eventually led to the sack of Juan Ferrando and the re-appointment of good old Antonio Lopez Habas, who is now meditating at Kashi with one of his favourite former Bagan players Joni Kauko, and has said to the media that he watches most of Bagan's games as a passionate fan.

Habas' successor is in bit of an iffy situation. It is not necessary bad but definitely quite frustrating, especially the defense. They managed to scrape through Punjab in the Durand Cup Semis but succumbed to NorthEast United FC in penalties in the Final, after allowing them to come back from a 2-0 lead. 

The fears of the leaky defense only grew worse as the full time repeat telecast of the NEUFC game had to be witnessed by 40,000+ Bagan fans at the VYBK in the ISL Opener on 13th September. The defense doesn't really feel settled, is nervous on the ball, is prone to way too much mispasses, positioning themselves poorly and losing the ball in dangerous situations.

একটি আবেদন:

এ এফ সি চাম্পিয়নস্ লিগ-টু তে আগামীকাল খেলতে নামছে মোহনবাগান। আমরা জানি যে এএফসি নতুন মোড়কে নিজের ভাগ করেছে। গতবারেই শেষ হয়েছে এ এফ সি কাপ, যার জায়গা নিয়েছে অনেক বেশী কঠিন, অনেক বেশী উচ্চমানের টিম নিয়ে এসিএল-টু। ভারত থেকে এই টুর্নামেন্টে সরাসরি স্পট একটাই-… pic.twitter.com/EyPx5MpGlO

— MBFT : Mohun Bagan (@MBFT89) September 17, 2024

The problem probably lies in evading the opposition press when they are going all out and a general reluctancy to finish games early on and settling back in a Habas-esque Park the Bus, and brutally failing to do so. The attack however is what Bagan fans can be hopeful from.

The attack needs to understand the situation of the defense, especially after losing out on India's best Center Back who used to do a lot of heavy lifting yester season by himself. His replacement Dippendu Biswas definitely needs more times to calm his nerves down, but surely shows the potential to make his name a permanent one at the club he supported since birth.

Mohun Bagan's investor brought forward a major surprise with the hijack of Nuno Reis from Mohammedan Sporting Club. The 33 year old A-League Star will be registered as the 7th foreigner for Bagan in the ACL2. It is doubtful whether he will get the start, and it is more likely that he will take a bit more time to feature as a starter.

Otherwise, Alberto Rodriguez is out for who knows how long after an injury against Mumbai in the last game while Schrodinger's Maclaren is fit according to half of the media and unfit according to the rest, the latter faction including Bagan Coach Jose Molina, thus it would be wise to give the benefit of the doubt to a larger possibility of his absence.

Thus, if Alberto is absent, and Nuno isn't ready yet, we would have to witness a three Center Back pairing of Dippendu Biswas, Tom Aldred and Subhashish Bose. This opens up the possibility for Cummings, Stewart and Petratos and by God's Grace even Jamie Maclaren too. 

🟢🔴 Sisir Ghosh and Jeje have scored the most number of goals in Asian competition for Mohun Bagan (11)

Can Liston (6) or Cummings (4) reach the landmark record in AFC Competitions for Mohun Bagan? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/KVSWkWG5Lb

— MBFT : Mohun Bagan (@MBFT89) September 18, 2024

If not the lineup will then probably comprise of Ashish Rai and Liston Colaco as Wing Backs, Apuia and Abhishek as a double pivot of sorts and possibly Manvir Singh or maybe even Ashique Kuruniyan starting as a support striker cum winger to Cummings and Petratos.

As a personal opinion, Ravshan seem defeatable. Their quality of football is nothing significantly better than any top ISL team such as Mumbai. They have glimpses of brilliant football but often leave big holes in the midfield and wings which makes them vulnerable to a counter attack. 

It is always a possibility that Ravshan might try to surprise with a remarkably different formation, and it is expected that Molina's men will be prepared for more than what meets the eye of a fan. 

MBFT extends its best wishes to Mohun Bagan as they begin their ACL2 journey, and prays for the good health and prosperity of every player, member of coaching team, support staff and club officials.

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