Physical Culture and Sports Football Club Merw Mary (), also known as Merw Mary, is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. They play in the national top division; the

Ýokary Liga The Turkmenistan Higher League, also called Türkmenistan Ýokary Liga ( Turkmen: ''Ýokary liga futbol klublarynyň arasyndaky futbol boýunça Türkmenistanyň çempionaty''), is the top division of professional football in Turkmenistan, operat ...

. Their home stadium is Mary Sport Toplumy.

Historical names

*until 1966 – Lokomotiv Mary *1967 – Murgab Mary *1968–1989 – Garagum Mary (Kara-Kum Mary) *1990-until now – Merw Mary

Current squad

History

In 1967–1969 and 1990–1991, the team played in the

Soviet Second League The Soviet Second League (, Soviet football championship (Second League)) was the third highest division of Soviet Union, Soviet football (soccer), football, below the Soviet First League. The league was formed in 1971 in place of the Class A Se ...

. The first big success of Merw FK after the collapse of the USSR came when they reached the final of the

Turkmenistan Cup The Turkmenistan Cup () is an annual knockout competition in men's domestic football in Turkmenistan. The Football Federation of Turkmenistan is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1993. T ...

in 1993. In the final, they lost to Köpetdag Aşgabat with a score of 0:4. A year later, the team were the bronze prize-winner of the 1994 Ýokary Liga and took part in the preliminary round of the

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

1994/95 season. The next 10 years were not marked by significant progress, but in 2004 Merw FK became one of the strongest football clubs in Turkmenistan. Merw FK claimed the bronze medal for the second time in the 2004 Ýokary Liga and, in 2005, they won the Cup of Turkmenistan. Their opponents in the

final was Köpetdag Aşgabat (the game finished 1–1 after extra time and Merw FK won 3–1 on penalties). In 2006, the team, for the second time, entered the international arena by taking part in the

2006 AFC Cup The 2006 AFC Cup was the third edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from the Asian Football Confederation member nations. Al-Faisaly from Jordan became the first side to win the competition two years in a row. Qualification The 'developing' ...

and lost to the teams

Dempo SC Dempo Sports Club is an Indian professional football club based in Panaji, Goa. The club currently competes in the I-League, the second tier of the Indian football league system, and the Goa Professional League. Dempo is owned and sponsored by ...

(2:2, 1:6) and Al-Nasr (0:2, 1:4). Between 2007 and 2009, Merw FK played in the finals of the

three times in a row. They lost to Şagadam FK in 2007 (0:1), won in 2008 by beating

FC HTTU FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

(2:1) and lost in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

to FC Altyn Asyr (0:3). In 2008, Merw FK won the

Turkmenistan Super Cup The Turkmenistan Super Cup ( Turkmen: ''Türkmenistanyň Naýbaşy Kubogy'') is an annual one-match association football competition in Turkmenistan organized by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. This competition serves as the season opener ...

by beating the champion of Turkmenistan FC Ashgabat. In 2009, for the third time in their history, Merw FK won the bronze medal in the 2009 Ýokary Liga. In 2012, the club became the silver prize-winner of the 2012 Ýokary Liga for the first time in history. In the 2022 season, Magtymguly Begenjew as head coach led the team to the third place in

, securing a

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

spot for the Merw FK after a 16-year absence.

Honours

League and cup record

** Runners-up: 2012 *

: 2 ** Winners: 2005, 2008 ** Runners-up: 1993, 2007, 2009 *

: 1 ** Winners: 2008 ** Runners-up: 2005

Performance in AFC competitions

: 2 appearances ::

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: Group Stage :: 2023–24: Group Stage *

Asian Cup Winners Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

: 1 appearance :: 1994–95: Preliminary Round

Managers

* Murad Bayramow (2005–06) * Merdan Nursahatow (2006–2008) *

Magtymguly Begenjew Magtymguly Pyragy ( ''Makhdumqoli Farāghi''; , ; , born Magtymguly, was an Iranian-Turkmen spiritual leader, philosophical poet, Sufism, Sufi and traveller, who is considered the most famous figure in Turkmen literary history. Magtymguly is ...

(2008–2010) *

Rahim Kurbanmamedov Rahim (''Raḥīm'' , also anglicized as Raheem) is an Arabic word meaning "Merciful", from the root '' R-Ḥ-M.'' Al-Rahim (the Merciful) is one of the attributes of God according to Islam. It is a male given name, sometimes a hypocorism for Abdu ...

(2011–2012) * Rahmanguly Baýlyýew (2015–2018) * Mekan Nasyrow (2019) *

(2020–2021) *

(2021–) *

(2022–present)

References

External links

Football for the Peoples. Turkmenistan
{{Ýokary Liga Football clubs in Turkmenistan 1991 establishments in Turkmenistan Mary, Turkmenistan