Bunyodkor - Uzbekistan Super League 2021


 Bunyodkor who are another Tashkent side and one of Pakhtakor's fiercest rivals started the season by beating Mash’al Mubarek. Between 2008 and 2013 they were champions in 5 of the 6 years. However, silverware has eluded them over more recent years. Last time out they finished 4th.


If the name of the club sounds familiar they have caused a splash in the transfer market in days gone by. Although, they may be more familiar under the name of Kuruvchi. In 2008 they almost signed Samuel Eto’o. However, after a trip to Tashkent with Fabregas, Puyol and Iniesta where it looked like he would join the Swallows he opted to go to Inter instead. Over that period of time though Bunyodkor were eager to burn money and as well as having Scolari and Zico as coaches they also had Rivaldo in the squad from 2008 to 2010.


The club isn’t one with a massively rich history, however. They were formed in 2005and played in the Tashkent Regional League, by 2007 they were in the league and 2008 saw their participation in the Asian Champions League after a debut finish of 2nd behind Pakhtakor. 


If you are wondering where all of the money came from, it was discovered that although the nominal owner was the very wealthy Miradil Djalalov who owned the biggest private company in Uzbekistan, the actual real money was coming from Gulnara Karimova, who was the eldest daughter of the country’s autocratic president, Islam Karimov. It’s probably no surprise that the club has had a bit of a downturn in fortunes since Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president in 2016  after the death of Karimov, who had been the only president since independence in 1992. Gulnara had been earmarked to replace her father, but this never happened.


Players to watch: Khursid Giyosov is 9th in the list of all time scorers at Bunyodkor. After a sojourn with FC Anyang in South Korea, he’s back at the club this season to see if he can get closer to being the all time top scorer. At 25, he definitely has time on his side.  Attacking midfielder Nurillo Tukhtasinov, who is a year younger at 24 is also highly rated and will probably be looking to move abroad in the not too distant future.


Star signing: Kursid Giyosov, if he can regain his form from last time at the club could be the star signing. As a whole the club have signed a lot of attack minded players, but I think that Sunnatill Abdullazhonov, who comes in as a left back from Qizilqum could be the surprise package.


Foreign Legion: Davron Ergashev is a centre half from Tajikistan who came in this season from my favourite Tajik side, Khujand. Odilzhon Abdurakhmanov will also be marking his debut season in Uzbekistan after joining from Alay Osh in Kyrgyzstan. They’re joined by highly rated Nigerian Ibrahim Tomiwa, who looked good in the opening game and has been in Uzbekistan longer than the other two having been previously at Qizilqum and Oqtepa.

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