Pakhtakor - Uzbekistan Super League 2021


Pakhtakor are the reigning champions in Uzbekistan and they started off this season coming back from 2 goals down to win 3-2 against Nasaf, so it looks like they will be a force to reckon with. Looking at their squad there are a number of players that look like they could do a very good job and unlike most clubs they have forked out transfer fees to bring players in. 


They are a club with a fine tradition having been the only Uzbek team to play in the top flight of the Soviet League and the only Central Asian team to appear in a Soviet Cup final. They have won the league 13 times since Uzbekistan became independent and the league started in 1992. Between 2001 and 2007 they won the league 7 times and if they win this season it will be their third in a row.


The team has not been without tragedy though, like the great teams of Manchester United, Torino and the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl Ice hockey team they were involved in an air crash. On route to a game against Dynamo Minsk in 1979, the team plane collided with another aircraft and the team were virtually all killed.


Their name translates as the cotton makers, hence the cotton bud on the badge. Their fiercest rivalry is with fellow Tashkent based club, Bunyodkor.


Player to watch: Dragan Ceran, plays as second striker, but has been the highest scorer in the league in the last couple of seasons and is often recipient of player of the month. The 33 year old from Serbia definitely enjoys it in Uzbekistan.


Star signing: Right winder Sardor Rashidov, who came in from Qatar FC and also played for Nacional in Portugal will bring some extra speed and bite on the wing.


Foreign Legion: Playing in front of Ceran up front  is Swiss born Eren Derdiyok, he’s another veteran and has a distinguished past. He was transferred from Basel to Bayer Leverkusen for about £3.5 million in 2009 and later went on to command big transfer fees when he moved on to Hoffenheim, Kasimpasa and Galatasaray. In Central defence, although technically Uzbeks, captain Egor Krimets and new signing from Obolon-2, Marlan Charbanov could both also play for Ukraine.


 

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