「经济学人」61-0

What could possibly explain the success of a club founded by Turkmenistan's dictator

ARKADAG ARE the undisputed champions of Turkmenistan. Founded in 2023, the football (soccer) team won every match in its first two domestic seasons, ending a hot streak of 61 straight wins only in November, with a loss to Kuwait’s Al-Arabi in an international game. The team came close to the all-time record set by Scotland’s Celtic FC just over a century ago, undefeated for 62 games. But some of Celtic’s matches were draws. Arkadag can still claim the longest winning streak.

Yet Guinness World Records, a chronicler of such achievements, has denied Arkadag due recognition, granting the honour instead to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, which boasts just 34 straight wins. Doubts about the Turkmen league’s governance made it impossible to verify Arkadag’s claim. Still, the self-reported streak is a remarkable feat. What is the key to Arkadag’s success?

The clue is in the name. “Arkadag”, meaning “Protector”, is also the honorific of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s president from 2006 to 2022 and still the power behind the throne now occupied by his son, Serdar. The pair rule in tandem, though the father’s ebullient personality eclipses his dour son’s. Berdymukhamedov the elder is an action man, with a love of racing-cars and horses, the national symbol of Turkmenistan. A talented crooner as well as a high-performing sportsman, he once celebrated Turkmenistan’s annual horse festival by rapping a paean to the steed with his grandson. Like the team that bears his title, he tends to win any contest he enters.

The sports-mad potentate oversaw the design of Arkadag’s strip and logo (a white horse), and its state-of-the-art stadium sitting, naturally, in a place called Arkadag. The town boasts a 40-metre-tall statue of its namesake (the ex-president, not the football team) and a main street called Akhan, after his favourite horse. Hence Arkadag, the leader, goes to Arkadag, the town, to watch Arkadag, the football team.

Not everyone in Turkmenistan is pleased with the team’s triumphs. There were mutterings of foul play after Arkadag poached players from other teams. There are suspicions that referees favour the newcomers. Despite—or perhaps because of—all that, Arkadag’s sporting future looks rosy. The Protector will, after all, live up to his name.

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “61-0”(Jan 15th 2025)

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