Two prominent players from the men’s national football team, Akram ‘Aku’ Abdul Ghanee and Mohamed Faisal have joined Club Eagles’ trainings ahead of its AFC Cup 2021 playoff match.

Defender Aku started his career back in 2006 as a member of Club Valencia. He has also played for New Radiant Sports Club, Maziya Sports and Recreation, Victory Sports Club, TC sports Club and VB Addu Football Club. In the course of his career Aku has had many achievements, with the most distinguished one being the finals of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship in the year 2008 and attaining the championship once again in 2018 under his captaincy.

Faisal kick started his career from Club All Youth Linkage (AYL) and then later played for Victory Sports Club, Club Valencia and New Radiant Sports Club. Furthermore, he had also been the goalkeeper for Club Eagles in 2014 and was a part of the national team that won the SAFF Championship in 2018.

While the national team defender and goalkeeper took part in their first training session on Wednesday, local football stars Ali ‘Dhagandey’ Ashfaq, Ali ‘Sentey’ Fasir, Mohamed ‘Baka’ Arif and Ismail ‘Messi’ Easa have also joined Eagles’ trainings.

An Eagles official had previously told RaajjeMV that they will be using the opportunity to change players to make the team stronger.

The team’s skills are being sharpened for the upcoming AFC Cup playoff game, to be held on August 15. The winners will join India’s ATK Mohun Bagan FC, Maldives' Maziya Sports & Recreation, and Bangladesh's Bashundhara Kings in Group D of the AFC Cup 2021.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) recently announced that AFC Cup 2021 Playoff and Group D matches will be held in Maldives.

The group matches will commence after the playoff game between Club Eagles and Bengaluru FC on August 15; to be held across three match days on August 18, 21 and 24, with the eventual group leader advancing to the single-leg Inter Zone Semi-final.