Abahani, Kings face stern tests in openers

Bangladesh's top two clubs, Abahani and Bashundhara Kings, kick off their AFC Challenge League campaigns today, with Abahani hosting Kyrgyzstan's Muras United in Dhaka and Kings facing Syria's Al Karamah SC in Doha.

Despite less-than-ideal preparation ahead of their first matches of the season, both sides are eager to produce positive results against higher-ranked opponents and progress from the preliminary stage to the 20-team final round of Asia's third-tier club competition.

Abahani, six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions, have not advanced beyond the preliminaries of an AFC competition since their 2019 AFC Cup inter-zonal semifinal run.

Participating in continental tournaments for the 13th time since 1985, the Sky Blues face a stern challenge from Muras United, a club formed in 2023 but already leaders of the Kyrgyzstan Premier League with 11 wins in 15 matches.

For AKM Maruful Haque's men, overcoming a foreign-player-laden Muras will require a disciplined performance.

In Doha, domestic powerhouse Bashundhara Kings are aiming to break their continental jinx, having exited at the group stage in four straight AFC competitions, the last without a single point.

The five-time Bangladesh Premier League winners had just one training session with the full squad, as foreign signings and expatriates Tariq Raihan Kazi and Cuba Mitchell joined only yesterday.

Kings now face a daunting task against Al Karamah, eight-time Syrian league winners and former runners-up in both the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup.

With minimal preparation, they will be banking on resilience and flashes of brilliance to pull off a surprise in Qatar.