FOOTBALL – Bahrain's Al Khaldiya played to a goalless stalemate against Uzbekistan’s PFC Nasaf last night in both teams’ opening match of the 2026-27 AFC Champions League (ACL) Two.
With only seven shots on target registered between the two sides, chances were few and far between in the Group A clash at the National Stadium in Riffa.
Khaldiya thus came away with a share of the points as they kicked off their campaign in the continental tournament’s preliminary round.
The Bahrainis are ranked behind Kuwait SC of Kuwait and Nasaf on the Group A table, with the Kuwaitis claiming a late 3-2 away win against Al Wahda FC of the UAE at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi in yesterday’s other divisional clash.
The ACL Two is the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) second-tier club competition.
It was rebranded from the AFC Cup entering the 2024-25 season, and it is one level below the AFC Champions League Elite and one above the AFC Challenge League.
Khaldiya are back in action on October 14, when they take on Kuwait at Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah Stadium in the Kuwaiti district of Sulaibikhat.
Khaldiya are one of two Bahraini clubs in this year’s tournament, with the other being two-time defending Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League champions Muharraq, who opened their Group B campaign on Tuesday with a narrow 0-1 away loss to FC Arkadag of Turkmenistan.
In Khaldiya’s match last night, Moroccan professionals Walid Sabbar and Saif-Eddine Bouhra, along with Croatian Domagoj Drozdek, all tried to threaten in the early stages, but they could not make the most of their opportunities and beat Nasaf custodian Abduvakhid Nematov.
After the re-start, Khaldiya kept fighting and their best chance came from Drozdek in the 53rd minute.
He hit a right-footed turning shot from the right of the box off a fine through-ball from South African teammate Patrick Tito Maswanganyi, but was turned away by a quick-reacting Nematov.
Neither side could find the net the rest of the way and will have to wait longer to open their goal scoring accounts in the tournament.
The ACL Two group battles – to be played in a home-and-away round-robin format – continue until December 9 before moving into the round of 16, set between February 9 and 18 in 2027.
The quarter-finals and semis are then set for March 2 to 18 and April 6 to 14, respectively, with the final pencilled in for May 15 next year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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