New Turkmenistan club named for ruler wins all matches

ASHGABAT: A football club named in honor of Turkmenistan´s authoritarian leader has been crowned league champions in the isolated Central Asian country, after winning every one of their matches.

Turkmenistan has had three rulers since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, all of whom have maintained a cult of personality and imposed tight controls on civil liberties.

“Arkadag footballers have won the title of Turkmenistan champion for the first time,” the state-run Golden Age newspaper reported on Monday. The team was founded this year for former president Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and immediately entered the ex-Soviet country´s first division.