The 15th edition of the Turkmenistan President's Cup was played from February 20 to 28 with the participation of eight clubs.
Three of the eight teams participating in the 15th edition of the tournament competed for the Cup for the first time – the runners-up of Kyrgyzstan League, a participant of ‘the golden match’ in the national championships FC Abdysh-Ata, FC Hemmat from Iran and the youth team from Bahrain.
The bronze-medal winner of Virsliga, the 1996 Turkmenistan President's Cup finalist Skonto Rīga and the bronze-medal winner of the championships of Armenia FC Gandzasar Kapan competed in the tournament for the second time. The defending Turkmenistan President's Cup winner HTTU Aşgabat– for the fourth time, a finalist of the 2007 and 2008 international tournaments FC Aşgabat made the third attempt to win the prize.
The teams were split in two groups: Group A – Defending champions Turkmenistan's HTTU Aşgabat was pooled with Kyrgyzstan runners-up Abdysh-Ata, Latvian giants Skonto and Iranian outfit Hemmat Golestan; Group B – Tajikistan runners-up Parvoz, Gandzasar from Armenia, Bahrain youth team and Turkmenistan champions Aşgabat were in Group B.
Two best teams in each group qualified to the final stage and competed for the main prize, the runners-up competed for the third place.
The winning team was awarded with US$20,000 while the runners-up team was given US$10,000.
HTTU beat Aşgabat 2–1 in the final of previous year.
Participating teams
TeamQualifying method FC Aşgabat Ýokary Liga 2008 winners HTTU Aşgabat Ýokary Liga 2008 runners-up FC Abdysh-Ata Kyrgyzstan League 2008 runners-up Skonto Rīga Virsliga 2008 3rd place FC Parvoz Tajik League 2008 runners-up FC Gandzasar Armenian Premier League 2008 3rd place Hemmat Golestan Iranian regional league team Bahrain Youth Team
Group stage All times are local (UTC+5)
Group A TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD1. Skonto Rīga7321080+82. HTTU Aşgabat6320163+33. FC Abdysh-Ata2302112-14. FC Hemmat13012010-10
Results
Group B TeamPtsPldWDLGFGAGD1. FC Aşgabat7321041+32. FC Gandzasar330302203. FC Parvoz2302123-14. Bahrain Youth Team2302113-2
Results
Knockout stage
Semi finals
Third-place play-off
Final
Top scorers
Notes FC Hemmat is the only team at this tournament players of which were unable to score a single goal.
#ScorerGoals (Pen.)Team1 Pirmyrat Gazakow2HTTU Aşgabat= Igors Kozlovs2Skonto Rīga= Andrejs Perepļotkins2Skonto Rīga= Ruslan Mingazow2FC Aşgabat= Mansurjon Hakimov2FC Parvoz= Abdullah Naser Mohamed2Bahrain Youth Team= Berdi Şamyradow2HTTU Aşgabat= Aleksandrs Fertovs2Skonto Rīga= Azat Garajaýew2HTTU Aşgabat= Gahrymanberdi Çoňkaýew2FC Aşgabat