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#ChallengeLeague | Group A: Ahal FC (TKM) 2-1 Al Ansar FC (LBN)

Group A: Ahal FC (TKM) 2-1 Al Ansar FC (LBN)

Thimphu: Turkmenistan’s Ahal FC claimed their first win with a 2-1 defeat of Group A leaders Al Ansar FC in their AFC Challenge League 2026/27™ encounter on Friday to leave the race for the top spot wide open. 
Lebanon’s Al Ansar, who won both their previous matches, will have to wait for the outcome of the Al Ittihad Ahli of Aleppo SC-Paro FC tie later on Friday to find out if they qualify for the quarter-finals. 

The win for Ahal, however, was not enough as they exited the competition with four points.
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Begench Mamiyew came agonisingly close to giving Ahal the lead five minutes in but the midfielder dragged his 20-yard shot just past the left post, teammate Oraz Orazow then misheading across the face of goal three minutes later off a corner.

Al Ansar, with one foot in the quarter-finals coming into the match, made their first move in the 19th minute through Majed Osman, whose blistering shot from the left forced keeper Yepa Mammayev into a full-length save in tipping the ball over.
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The Lebanon side gradually ramped up the pressure, pushing Mammayev to go down low in the 28th minute to deny Nader Matar’s shot from outside the box, with the midfielder’s header off a well-weighted cross by Nassar Nassar then bouncing off to the left.

Ahal, however, flipped the script in the 44th minute when Rafik Mednini handled the ball in the area, and while custodian Hadi Kanj guessed correctly, Mamiyew’s spot-kick to the left packed too much power and earned his side the lead going into the break.  

Group A: Ahal FC (TKM) v Al Ansar FC (LBN)

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Enwer Annayew almost doubled the advantage two minutes into the restart when he came bursting down the middle unchallenged, but Kanj came off his line and did well to block the striker’s shot with his legs.
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A steady Al Ansar leveled in the 63rd minute when Majed Osman, coming from behind the defence, picked up a clever through ball from substitute Mahdi Al Zain on the right and calmly side-footed into the top left past a lunging Mammayev.
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Ahal were having none of it, and regained the lead in the 77th minute through Yakupmuhammet Govshudow, who, sneaking into the box, latched onto a cut-back from Suleyman Mirzoyew and slid the ball into an unguarded net to leave Al Ansar’s hopes of a knockout stage place up in the air.       

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