Team in Focus: Bongali United
Nation: Otksarin
Location: Kuala Pekatanan
Home stadium: Bongali Park (82,000)
Manager: Azra Macar, 63
Assistant Manager: Kader Al-Ghazzawi, 46
Titles: 7x GFL Champions (S1, S4, S7, S10, S14, S17, S23); 3x Otkdor League Champions (S14, S21, S23), 5x Royal GI Cup (S15, S17, S19, S21, S22)
Starting Lineup: (4-1-2-1-2)
1 - Fikri Hüseynov, 34 (GK - Captain) - Otksarin NT Starter
2 - Melis Quliyev, 26 (LB)
5 - Abu Bakr Ekmekçi, 29 (CB) Otksarin NT Starter
6 - Saif al-Din Kartal, 28 (CB) Otksarin NT Starter
3 - Basir Al-Mufti, 27 (RB)
4 - Erkin Aksoy, 30 (DCM/CB) Otksarin NT Starter
7 - Zayn Quliyev, 26 (LM)
8 - Yasaman Najm, 24 (RM)
11 - Farrokh Karimi, 22 (ACM/CF) Otksarin NT Pool Player
9 - Abdelkader Kartal, 25 (CF - Vice-captain) Otksarin NT Starter/TGI NT Starter
10 - Salwah Sadık, 31 (CF) Otksarin NT Starter
Notable Substitutes:
16 - Alperen El-Ghazzawy, 22 (CB/DCM) Otksarin NT Pool Player
19 - Farid Bousaid, 23 (RM)
24 - Setiawan Darzi, 22 (CF/ACM) Otksarin NT Pool Player
How can we talk about our league without the defending Gothanitan Football League champions, the most successful club in Otksarin, and literally the backbone of the Otksarin national team? Impossible, my friend. Being one of the founding clubs of the Gothanitan Football League, they have reached the level of being one of the major clubs of the league. They are arguably one of the strongest domestic sides in the entire Gothanita Isles, featuring 6 starters in the Otksarin national team, including vice-captain Abdelkader Kartal, who is also a regular in the Gothanita Isles national team. Not to forget their talented manager, Azra Macar, as well as assistant manager Kader Al-Ghazzawi, who is a former captain at the club too. They play a brand of passing football, known as the "Azraball", which prioritise possession of the ball over offence. They can sit back and wait for the opposition to over commit, or push forward when the opposition is weak to pressure them into making mistakes.
But their start to the league season isn't the best. Starting in the Hellina Stadium against Hellina City of North Handoria, the club took home a 2-0 win thanks to a brace from Kartal. But they failed to dominate against Tyakrita United, another mid-table side, and crashed at the capital derby against Cheskata in Matchday 3. This puts them at 4 points from 3 games, which is still okay but a rather shaky start for the team.