A look at Yeedzin

Yeedzin pictured at last year's AFC President's Cup

On 5 May, Phnom Penh Crown will begin the first of their three AFC President's Cup Group Stage Qualifying Round matches against the lowest ranked of the teams in Group B, namely Yeedzin of the tiny mountainous kingdom of Bhutan. Surrounded by India and China, it's national sport is archery but football is definitely taking a firm foothold amongst the 700,000 population, though the national team remains near the base of the FIFA rankings at 201. The Thimphu-based club have won the national league title on two occasions and competed in last season's AFC President's Cup, though they failed to progress past the qualifying stage in Myanmar. They were totally outclassed conceding 21 goals without any reply, losing 6-0 to home team Yadanarbon, 8-0 to FC Istiklol of Tajikistan and 7-0 to Palestine's Jabal Al Mukaber. However, it was a valuable learning experience for the club, who will come to Phnom Penh hoping to put up a much sterner fight this time around. This isn't the first time that the two clubs have met. In June 2009, a crowd of 300 at the Spartak Stadium in Kyrgyzstan saw Crown win 3-1 with two goals from Jean Roger Lappe-Lappe and another from Chan Rithy. Crown survivors from that game are Tieng Tiny, Chan Chaya and Chim Rathanak. Both sides failed to qualify from the group stage.