TEHRAN – Bam Khatoon head coach Marziyeh Jafari says that they will have a difficult task in the AFC Women's Champions League 2024/25 since the Asian teams have improved in the recent years.

Khatoon will start the campaign on Sunday with a match against Australia’s Melbourne City in Group B.

In another match, Thailand’s College of Asian Scholars will play the Philippines’ Kaya FC-Iloilo.

“We wanted to book our place in the group stage and showed a good performance in the preliminary stage held in Myanmar in late August. Khatoon topped Group D with wins against Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC and Royal Thimphu College FC of Bhutan,” Jafari told Tehran Times.

Australian champions Melbourne City will be keen to get their campaign off to a winning start when they face Khatoon FC.

Melbourne have recruited well for the new season with the likes of Mariana Speckmaier, Malena Mieres, Lourdes Bosch, Alexia Apostolakis and Emilia Murray possibly being given debuts on Sunday.

“Melbourne, in my opinion, are stronger than the Australia national team. Also, the Philippines and Thailand are higher than Iran in the women’s ranking and it shows that we have a difficult task ahead,” she added. 

Veteran forward Zahra Ghanbari and Atefeh Ramezanizadeh continue to be the heartbeat of Bam Khatoon and their performance will play a crucial role in determining whether Jafari’s side can take something from this match.

“This is just the beginning for us as you know the Asian teams have started the women’s football years ago. We need to earn experience from the competition. We are here to do our best,” Khatoon captain Ramezanizadeh said.

The match will be held at the Pathum Thani Stadium in Pathum Thani, Thailand.

Photos: Forough Taherkhani