Football in Uzbekistan

Football in Uzbekistan started to develop in the 1920s. In 1926, the first championship{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tableso/oezchamp.html |title=Uzbekistan – List of Champions |date=2013-03-14 |website=RSSSF |access-date=2013-09-17}} of the Uzbek SSR (i.e. Uzbek League) was held. Sbornaya Tashkenta and Sokol Tashkent were the most successful clubs in the competition. However the most successful club was FC Pakhtakor, the only football club from Uzbek SSR that played in the USSR Top League with 22 seasons.{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/region-ussr.html |title=Former Soviet Union – Regional Analysis |website=RSSSF |access-date=2013-09-17}} The Uzbekistan Football Federation was founded in 1946.

Berador Abduraimov{{cite web|url=https://www.thefinalball.com/player/berador_abduraimov/1959_1960/profile/89/default/158938 |title=Berador Abduraimov :: Berador Abduraimov :: :: Statistics :: Titles :: Titles :: Career :: Goals :: Matches :: News :: Videos :: Photos |publisher=footballzz.co.uk |date=1943-05-14 |access-date=2013-09-17}} is the most famous Uzbekistani footballer during the Soviet period. He played 358 matches for FC Pakhtakor,{{cite web |url=http://www.footballplayers.ru/players/Abduraimov_Berador.html |title=аЕПЮДНП юАДСПЮХЛНБ (Berador Abduraimov) – Footballplayers.ru – тСРАНКХЯРШ ЛХПЮ |publisher=Footballplayers.ru |date=2003-09-01 |access-date=2013-09-17 |archive-date=2009-01-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131085826/http://www.footballplayers.ru/players/Abduraimov_Berador.html |url-status=dead }} and was top goalscorer of the Soviet Top League in 1968 and also represented the Soviet Union.

Between 1961 and 1992, several Uzbekistani footballers had been members of the USSR national football team:

In 1994, Uzbekistan Football Federation was reestablished and became a member of FIFA and Asian Football Confederation.

In the same year, the Uzbekistan national football team won the Asian Games,{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/asgames94.html|title=Asian Games 1994|website=RSSSF|access-date=3 February 2018}} at a time when the country was just finding its feet after gaining independence. But in 2003, the national association enjoyed more success: for the first time, the country's U-20 team qualified for the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2003, which was hosted by the UAE. Uzbekistan U-19 reached the semi-finals of AFC U-19 Championships twice in 2012 and 2014 and once qualified to the final in 2008 but defeated by UAE U-19. After the achievement in 2003, Uzbekistan U-20 has participated in FIFA U-20 World Cup three more times so far. In 2009 mundial the team finished its appearance in group stage.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/archive/egypt2009/groups/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614041635/http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/archive/egypt2009/groups/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 14, 2015|title=FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 – Groups – FIFA.com|last=FIFA.com|website=FIFA.com|access-date=3 February 2018}} In 2013 World Cup in Turkey, U-20 team made play-off and in Round of 16 won Greece U-20 with 3:1, but lost in quarterfinal to France U-20 0:4.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=259231/match=300234903/index.html#nosticky|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709065940/http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=259231/match=300234903/index.html?#nosticky|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 9, 2013|title=FIFA U-20 World Cup Turkey 2013 – Matches – France-Uzbekistan – FIFA.com|last=FIFA.com|website=FIFA.com|access-date=3 February 2018}} The team made an appearance in 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup and qualified to quarterfinal, and defeated by Senegal U-20 with 0–1.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=271598/match=300269519/index.html#nosticky|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612190133/http://www.fifa.com/u20worldcup/matches/round=271598/match=300269519/index.html#nosticky|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 12, 2015|title=FIFA U-20 World Cup New Zealand 2015 – Matches – Uzbekistan-Senegal – FIFA.com|last=FIFA.com|website=FIFA.com|access-date=3 February 2018}}

Uzbekistan U-16 won AFC U-16 Championship in 2012 and it was the second final which the team qualified. In 2010 AFC U-16 Championship U-16 lost to North Korea U-16 in the final match. Uzbekistan U-16 has qualified to FIFA U-17 World Cup twice in 2011 and 2013. In the debut year in the tournament the team finished its appearance in quarterfinal,{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/round=255969/match=300151864/index.html#nosticky|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707090843/http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/round=255969/match=300151864/index.html#nosticky|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 7, 2011|title=FIFA U-17 World Cup Mexico 2011 – Matches – Uruguay-Uzbekistan – FIFA.com|last=FIFA.com|website=FIFA.com|access-date=3 February 2018}} defeated by Uruguay U-17. Uzbekistan U-16 was stopped by Honduras U-17 in round of 16 in 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup.{{cite web|url=https://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/round=259261/match=300253562/index.html#nosticky|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030212011/http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/matches/round=259261/match=300253562/index.html#nosticky|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2013|title=FIFA U-17 World Cup UAE 2013 – Matches – Honduras-Uzbekistan – FIFA.com|last=FIFA.com|website=FIFA.com|access-date=3 February 2018}}

In 2018 Uzbekistan U-23 became the champions in AFC U-23 Championship hosted by China. The team defeated Vietnem U-23 in the final match with 2–1. The senior team's best achievement at the Asian Cup was a fourth-place finish at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

The most successful football clubs in Uzbekistan are FC Bunyodkor, FC Pakhtakor and FC Nasaf.

In 2007 Pakhtakor won 2007 CIS Cup by defeating FK Ventspils, from Latvia, with 9-8 on penalties. The next season of CIS Cup Pakhtakor reached the final of the competition for the back-to-back second time but lost to Khazar Lenkoran. The team is also perennial competitor in the AFC Champions League, having reached the semi-finals of the competition twice in 2003 and 2004. Pakhtakor currently holds record in number of consecutive participation in AFC Champions League, participating from 2002 to 2013

FC Nasaf won AFC Cup in 2011, defeating Kuwait SC with 2–1 in the final of the tournament and became Uzbekistan's first club to win AFC Cup.

FC Bunyodkor's best achievement is the semi-finals of AFC Champions League: 2008, a debut year of the team in the competition, and the second time in 2012.the-afc.com

Ravshan Irmatov was named The Best Referee in Asia in four consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014). He was Best Referee of The Year in the 2015 Globe Soccer Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raiSport/Articoli/Globe-Soccer-Messi-batte-Ronaldo-e-Buffon-4c464a3a-a021-466b-9699-8d2837d0e9b7.html?refresh_ce |title=Messi batte Ronaldo e Buffon |publisher=Rai Sport|language=it|date=2015-12-27}}{{cite web|url=http://www.uzdaily.com/articles-id-34679.htm|title=Ravshan Irmatov named as best referee of 2015 |publisher=UzDaily|date=2015-12-28}}

Notable Uzbekistani footballers since independence from the Soviet Union include Server Djeparov (2008 Asian Footballer of the year), Igor Shkvyrin (top goal scorer of the 1994 Asian Games), Mirjalol Qosimov and Maksim Shatskikh.

In 2014, Uzbekistan was one of the eight nations to take part in the first Unity World Cup.{{cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/hyderabad/events/expo-2014-unity-world-cup|title=Expo 2014 Unity World Cup|website=timeout.com|access-date=3 February 2018}}

In 2023, the Surkhon club sponsored by Bakhtiyor Fazilov did well in the matches of the Uzbekistan Superleague and the Uzbekistan Cup.[https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/post/80904 Works on the modernization of the stadium in Termez are in full swing, UZ Daily]

{{Portal|Football|Uzbekistan}}

• Grigory Fedotov club
• Gennadi Krasnitsky club
• Club 200 of Berador Abduraimov
• List of football stadiums in Uzbekistan

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Football in Uzbekistan}}

{{Football in Asia}}