Bunyodkor

Football Club Bunyodkor (Uzbek: Bunyodkor futbol klubi) is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League.

Bunyodkor, a relatively unknown club at the time, made international headlines when it claimed to be close to signing world-famous Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, although he did not sign with them. On 25 August 2008, AEK Athens Brazilian superstar Rivaldo announced to the Greek press that he was joining Bunyodkor on a reported $14 million two-year contract.

The club finished second in the 2007 Uzbek League season and made the semi-finals of the 2008 AFC Champions League. In the beginning of August 2008, the club changed its name to Bunyodkor from PFC Kuruvchi to reflect the club's success on the pitch and its increasing professionalism off the pitch.

Bunyodkor is the second best team of AFC Champions League's history after Pakhtakor by participating in 10 consecutive tournaments of Champions League from 2008 to 2017.

History

Bunyodkor, which means "creator" in Uzbek (and originally from the Persian بنیادکار|bonyad-Kar), was created on 6 July 2005, with the name Neftgazmontaj-Quruvchi, which was typically abbreviated "Kuruvchi" (the Uzbek word for "builder"). In 2005, the club played initially in the championship of Tashkent region and played its way into the playoff for promotion into the First League, the second level of Uzbek football. Kuruvchi gained promotion that year, its first, and under the management of Khikmat Irgashev, Kuruvchi won the First League in its first attempt, winning 27 of 38 matches with 5 draws and 6 defeats.

With its victory in the second level of Uzbek football in 2006, the 2007 season was Kuruvchi's debut in the Uzbek League. Never before had a club moved with such alacrity from the lower reaches of Uzbek competition into the top league.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Бунёдкор (russian)