In his management career, Babayan (picture) has seen his team capture almost everything on offer, including the CIS Cup for former Soviet states. The only silverware missing from his resume is the AFC Champions League.

Despite Pakhtakor being usurped by Bunyodkor as Uzbekistan’s glamour team, Babayan is confident his side, who are the only ever-presents in the competition since its launch in 2002/03, are capable of winning this year’s ACL title.

“So far, the AFC Champions League is the only competition that we have taken part in but not won,” Babayan, who was in Kuala Lumpur for the ACL Knock-out Stage Workshop, told the-afc.com. “We will do our best to win it and that is why we keep trying every season.

“To put it simply, for us, we have three priorities this season - one, AFC Champions League; two, AFC Champions League; and three, AFC Champions League.

“We want to win the local league and cup as well but nothing comes close to the AFC Champions League.”

Pakhtakor have a tough assignment against Saudi Arabia’s two-time champions Al-Ittihad in the quarter-finals, with the first leg at home on September 24.

The draw is such that there is a possibility Pakhtakor could face their intense rivals Bunyodkor in the Tokyo final.

In a candid interview, Babayan also talked about possible changes to the AFC Champions League that he feels would enhance the competition.

All-Asia group stages

Babayan said the 32-team group stages should have East and West Asian teams thrown into the mesh without the need for separating them. For the 2009 competition, East and West teams were separated and were only able to face each other at the quarter-final stage.

Said Babayan: “West meets East is a good idea. Please, make it from the group stages next season. I understand that it was difficult before but now that we have selected the 10 leading countries in Asia, I do not think travel is a problem.

“Our fans want to see us playing against top East Asian clubs from countries such as Japan, China and Korea Republic rather than playing almost the same opponents every season.

“But that only happens if we get to the quarter-finals. I support separating countries into different groups but mixing West with East from the group stage will make the draw more interesting.”

Open to more countries

Babayan said that some countries have strong teams who are unable to play in the ACL because their league structure fails to comply with AFC criteria. However, he said the ACL should be more flexible.

“I believe you need to open the ACL to a few more countries such as Syria, Kuwait and Bahrain in the near future,” said Babayan. “I do not know about their league organisation and other requirements but they surely have good teams, which I know from my experience.”

Hosting the ACL final and meeting Bunyodkor

Tokyo, Japan won the bid to host this year’s AFC Champions League one-match final, with Tashkent also in the running. He hopes Pakhtakor can host next year’s final should AFC decide to continue with this current format.

“We were interested to host this year’s final and we will try again for next season. Pakhtakor has a very beautiful stadium, one of the best in Asia and I would love to see the final take place there.

“Ideally, I want to see both Uzbek teams to meet in the final in Tokyo, and I think the draw gave us a very good opportunity. Out of three countries with two clubs remaining only the Uzbeks can meet each other in the final.

“The Japanese clubs will meet in the quarter-finals while the two Korean teams could meet in the semi-finals. I think we need to grab this opportunity.”

Hopes against Al-Ittihad

“Al-Ittihad are a very strong team and I prefer playing the first match away from home. But I still believe we can beat them, we will do our best to beat them.”