It's rare to see a league kicking off these days, while all matches around the world are being suspended.
The Tajikistan Higher League is a beacon of hope as ten teams will begin their journey of the 2020 season. Although there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, the first matches will be behind closed doors.
This will not be the first time matches in Tajikistan are played without fans. Three weeks ago the AFC Cup was still played. The two Tajik teams participating in the tournament, Istiklol and Khujand, played each other in front of empty stands. On Saturday, both clubs will meet again in the Tajik Super Cup.
Istiklol is currently the best team in Tajikistan. They won the double for the fifth time in the last six seasons. Three years ago, they got as far as a Tajik club ever has in the AFC Cup, when they lost at the final against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya from Iraq. Their squad consists of 8 players from Tajikistan national team, the biggest star being Manuchekhr Dzhalilov, the all-time top scorer of the national team. Keep an eye out for Sheriddin Boboev, last season's top scorer with 16 goals.
Their opponents in the Tajik Super Cup, Khujand, are the league runner-ups. Even though they finished the last three seasons in the top part of the table, they have not yet been able to win the championship. This season, they wish to narrow the gap with Istiklol and even clinch the title for the first time. They appointed Nikola Lazarevic, a manager that knows Tajik football well. He was the assistant manager of the national team and led Istiklol to a double in 2016. Their key player is the most capped player of the Tajik national team, Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev.
Regar-TadAZ is one of the most decorated clubs in Tajik football. They won 7 championship, 5 cups, but their major achievement is winning the AFC President's Cup three times. They reached the cup finals last season but lost 4-2 in penalties. Watch for Nozim Babadjanov, their 24-year-old midfielder, one of the few players from the club that is also playing for the national team. He also played abroad for a while, with short spells in Bahrain and Bulgaria.
CSKA Pamir Dushanbe was the best club in the country during the USSR era. They played the Soviet Top League for three seasons and also reached the Soviet Cup semi-final in 1992. They were also the youth club of Oleksiy Cherednyk, a gold medallist with the Soviet Union Olympic team in 1988. Nowadays, they are far from being the former Soviet legends, but they can still pose a challenge. The experienced striker, Dilshod Vasiev, is someone you should pay attention to.
Other interesting names:
Elijah Ari – The player from Ghana made his first steps in Dordoi and later even naturalized and represented Kyrgyzstan. Now he is one of six Ghanaian players in the squad of the newly promoted Dushnabe-83.
Azizbek Khasanov – Was an essential part of Lokomotiv-Pamir last season with 13 goals at the second division. The club finished in the first place and promoted after years of absence.
Rahmatullo Fuzailov – The former Tajik national team player, played four years in the Russian top tier for Shinnik Yaroslavl and Alania Vladikavkaz. It will be his second season as the manager of Kuktosh.