Within a month, the Uzbek football team will make its debut at the FIFA World Cup as the only representative from Central Asia and the Caucasus. This is an important achievement that underscores the positive momentum of Uzbek football across both the men’s and women’s national squads.
Uzbekistan is in a tough group, with three difficult opponents: Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Portugal. The good news for fans of Uzbekistan is that the squad is composed of players already in top-level leagues. The best example is Abdukodir Khusanov, currently playing for Manchester City; in fact, Khusanov is the first-ever Uzbek player in the English Premier League (EPL). At the time of writing, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said Khusanov is doing “better” following an injury. He had a “tough knock against Beto when he played Everton. He’s better,” Guardiola said recently.
According to Transfermarkt, which tracks player market values, Khusanov is valued at $41 million (35 million euro). Because of his youth, skill, and success in the EPL, it is no surprise that a recent profile about Khusanov by The Athletic compared him to Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. The article explained that Khusanov, age 22, is the Uzbek squad’s “best player, both in defense with his rapid pace and exceptional reading of the game.”
Meanwhile, Abbosbek Fayzullaev plays for İstanbul Başakşehir in Turkiye, where he plays alongside Eldor Shomurodov, the nation’s all-time top scorer and a former player for Roma in Italy. Khusniddin Alikulov also plays in Turkiye’s Süper Lig, for Çaykur Rizespor.
The future looks bright for the Uzbek national team, as a new generation of football players is on the rise. The country won the AFC U-17 Asian Cup in 2025, playing with nine men against Saudi Arabia in the final.
As for the women’s national squad, the country reached the quarterfinals at the recently concluded 2026 AFC Women’s Asia Cup in Australia. The squad advanced from the group stage but, unfortunately, lost in dramatic fashion to South Korea (6-0). The Central Asian country will host the 2029 Women’s Asia Cup. Hopefully, playing in front of a home crowd will help the squad, led by Captain Lyudmila Karachik, go further. As with the men’s squad, the future appears bright as Uzbekistan’s U17 women’s team won the CAFA (Central Asian Football Association) Championship in Tajikistan in 2023.
Uzbekistan has a short but proud history in global sports. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, the country won 13 medals, including eight golds, in sports such as boxing, wrestling, judo, and weightlifting. One important highlight of those Olympics was Diyora Keldiyorova, who won the gold medal in the women’s 52 kg judo category. She is the first Uzbek athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in judo, and the first Uzbek woman to win gold in the Summer Olympics. The country has also won many medals at the Winter Olympics.
However, Uzbekistan is not globally known (yet) for its professional football teams or the achievements of the national squads. At the professional level, football teams compete in the Uzbekistan Super League. The winner qualifies for the AFC Champions League, organized by the Asian Football Federation, Asia’s most prestigious club competition. (Neighboring Kazakh professional teams compete in European football tournaments.) Unfortunately, Uzbek teams have not had much luck advancing in the AFC Champions League: during the 2025-2026 AFC tournament, the Uzbek representative, Football Club Nasaf, was eliminated in the League Stage.
The evolution of Uzbek football is unfolding in real time, as exemplified by recent achievements, including Khusanov and the young teams which won the AFC U17 Asian Cup and U17 CAFA Championships. Of course, expectations must remain realistic.
Surviving the group stage of the upcoming World Cup will be tough: Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo wants to make history in his last World Cup appearance, Colombia regularly reaches the latter stages, while the DRC has players in top English and Spanish teams. For sure, the June 23 encounter between Khusanov and Cristiano Ronaldo, when Uzbekistan faces off against Portugal in Houston, will be memorable.
As for the women’s squad, qualifying for the FIFA Women’s World Cup or the Olympics would be a success in itself, given that the country has never qualified for either.
The current decade could become the first golden era of Uzbek football, exemplified by two youth championships and participation at the upcoming World Cup. Similarly, a successful hosting of the AFC Women’s Asia Cup 2029 will also, hopefully, encourage more Uzbek girls to pursue the sport. Football is known worldwide as the king of sports for a reason, and Uzbekistan’s national squads (both men’s and women’s) have a chance to become real players of the beautiful game.
