FK Arkadag, created by former president, complete third perfect season | OneFootball

For the third season in a row, FK Arkadag have completed the Turkmenistan top flight with a 100% record, underlining an extraordinary domestic dominance. The club were founded only two and a half years ago by the country’s former leader.

A comprehensive mid-November win over Nebitçi wrapped up the 2025 campaign without a single slip, every match won. They did the same in 2024 and 2023, totalling 72 league victories and a goal difference of +283. The Guardian has previously highlighted a November 2023 match against Sagadam, when a highly debatable spot-kick was awarded in the dying seconds with the score at 2-2.

Arkadag were founded on 1 April 2023, an initiative of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Turkmenistan’s president from 2006 to 2022 who cultivated a personality cult. Before transferring power to his son, Serdar, he created the city of Arkadag in 2019, its name matching his nickname meaning protector.

Valued at 5 billion dollars, €4.25 billion, the project included the creation of FK Arkadag, with the cycling-enthusiast elder Berdimuhamedow pushing a team built to contend immediately in the Yokary Liga. Days before the season started, the national transfer window was extended, allowing the best domestic players to arrive. The squad now contains nearly two thirds of the national team.

The result is relentless dominance at home and, in 2025, the inaugural AFC Challenge League title, the equivalent of Europe’s Conference League. The club crest features a horse, another of Berdimuhamedow’s passions.

Rival supporters suspect match-fixing and favourable officiating. These controversies have gained little traction in a state widely described as among Central Asia’s most repressive since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, and one of the world’s most closed.

Source: L'Équipe