The 2016 Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) regional tournament for recruitment of Oqaban Hindukosh players took place in Panjshir’s Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim Stadium. Six teams representing Panjshir, Kapisa, Bamyan, Parwan, and Daikondi participated in the tournament. 

In the 2015 RAPL, Oqaban managed only one win in the group stage to finish the season with four points and no hope of advancing to the semi-finals. 

The team was expected to have enough preparation to kick-off the 2016 RAPL main tournament in central Kabul strongly and compensate their poor performance of last year. For 2016, Faisal Sultani and Emran Walizada, two of Shaheen Asmayee’s famous players were added to the line-up in a bid to boost the team’s performance.  

The 2016 RAPL draw put the team in the group “B” to compete with Mawjhai Amu, De Spinghar Bazan, and Simorgh Alborz in the group stage. 

Unfortunately, Oqaban started the fifth season conceding 1-0 its first group stage match to Mawjhai Amu and their efforts in the second group stage match against De Spinghar Bazan led to a draw. Chances were high for the team to be qualified for semi-finals if they did not clung to a 2-1 loss against their strong opponent, Simorgh Alborz, in the third group stage match. 

Scoring four points and on aggregate, Oqaban Hindukosh failed to advance to the 2016 RAPL semi-finals. 

The Oqaban Hindukosh’s match highlights are available on the RAPL YouTube page (www.youtube.com/afghanpremierleague). More information about the team and RAPL events can be found on (www.afghanpremierleague.com). To see more photos of the team, follow RAPL Instagram on (afghanpremierleague.official).