Tajikistan national football team

Tajikistan

Nickname(s)	The Crown (Persian: تاج‎, Tajik: Тоҷ) The Persian Lion (Persian: شیر پارسی‎ ,Tajik: шери порси)
Association	Tajikistan Football Federation
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Head coach	Nikola Kavazović
Top scorer	Yusuf Rabiev (15)
Home stadium	Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe
FIFA code	TJK
FIFA ranking	112
Highest FIFA ranking	112 (April 2013)
Lowest FIFA ranking	180 (July 2003)
Elo ranking	145
Highest Elo ranking	87 (March 2004)
Lowest Elo ranking	147 (13 March 2012, 21 March 2013)
First colours Second colours
First international
Tajikistan 2–2 Uzbekistan (Dushanbe, Tajikistan; 17 June 1992)
Biggest win
Tajikistan 16–0 Guam (Tabriz, Iran; 26 November 2000)
Biggest defeat
Japan 8–0 Tajikistan (Osaka, Japan; 11 October 2011)

The Tajikistan national football team (Tajik: тими миллии Тоҷикистон, Persian: تیم ملی تاجیکستان‎) represents Tajikistan in association football and is controlled by the Tajikistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Tajikistan. Tajikistan's home ground is Pamir Stadium in Dushanbe.

History

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Tajikistan played its first match against Uzbekistan on 17 June 1992. It was not until 1994 that the Tajikistan National Football Federation was admitted to FIFA.

Tajikistan played its first official game on 11 April 1994 in Tashkent as part of a regional tournament. They lost that game against Kazakhstan 0:1. The first official competition the team entered was the Asian Nations Cup 1996, when it was seeded in the three-team Group 8 with Uzbekistan and Bahrain. Bahrain later withdrew, leaving Tajikistan to a play-off against their Middle Asian neighbors. Tajikistan won the first game 4:0, but were beaten in the away game 0:5 after extra time. They did not enter a World Cup qualifying competition until the France 1998 edition, recording four victories in their preliminary group stage including a 5–0 triumph over Turkmenistan, and losing only to China, which placed them second behind their eastern neighbors but out of the competition.

In a three-team qualifying section for Korea/Japan 2002, they had a record 16–0 win over Guam before losing 2–0 to Iran. After beating Bangladesh 4–0 on aggregate in the preliminary round of qualifiers for Germany 2006, they held AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists and eventual group winners Bahrain to a goalless draw on 31 March 2004.

The team won its first international tournament, the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup, in 2006, beating Sri Lanka 4–0 in Dhaka.

World Cup record

World Cup Finals										World Cup Qualifications
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA		GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1994	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		6	4	1	1	15	2
2002	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		2	1	0	1	16	2
2006	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		8	4	1	3	9	9
2010	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		4	1	2	1	7	4
2014	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		6	2	0	4	6	14
Total	-		-	-	-	-	-	-		25	12	4	10	52	31

Asian Cup record

Asian Cup Finals										Asian Cup Qualifications
Year	Result	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA		GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1992	Did not enter		-	-	-	-	-	-
1996	Did not qualify		-	-	-	-	-	-		2	1	0	1	4	5
2000	Did not qualify		-	-	-	-	-	-		3	2	0	1	6	5
2004	Did not qualify		-	-	-	-	-	-		6	2	2	2	3	5
2007	Did not enter		-	-	-	-	-	-
2011	Did not enter		-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	Best:		-	-	-	-	-	-		11	5	2	4	13	15

• 2010 AFC Challenge Cup was used to determine qualification for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification

AFC Challenge Cup record

AFC Challenge Cup Finals									AFC Challenge Cup Qualifications
Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA		GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
2006	Champions	6	5	0	1	18	2
2008	Runners-Up	5	2	2	1	7	5		3	2	0	1	7	1
2010	3rd Place	5	3	0	2	8	5
2012	Group stage	3	1	0	2	3	4
2014	Did not qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-		3	2	0	1	4	1
Total	Best: Champions	16	10	2	3	32	12		6	4	0	2	11	2

Asian Games record

Host nation(s) / Year	Result	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
National Team
Hiroshima 1994	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
Bangkok 1998	Second round	5	1	1	3	8	13
Busan 2002	Banned by AFC	-	-	-	-	-	-
Doha 2006	Round 1	3	1	2	0	7	3
Guangzhou 2010	Did not enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
Incheon 2014
Total	Best: Second Round	8	2	3	3	15	16

Note: As of 2002 only U23 teams permitted to take part in Asian Games Football Tournament. So in 2006 U23 team took part in the tournament.

RCD Cup/ECO Cup record

• 1965 to 1974: No international team
• 1993: Third Place

Other tournaments

• 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games: Group Stage

ELF Cup

In 2006, Tajikistan took part in the inaugural ELF Cup in Northern Cyprus. This competition was originally intended to be for teams that were not members of FIFA; however, the organisers extended invitations to both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, who were both represented by their national futsal teams. Tajikistan failed to get past the group stage.

Kit

The team strip is currently sponsored by Umbro. It is red, white and green to reflect the colors of the Tajik national flag.

Records versus other nations

Main article: Tajikistan national football Team's record against other nations

Managers

#	Name	Nat	Period	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Win%
1	Sharif Nazarov		1992–1994
2	Vladimir Gulyamkhaydarov		1994–1995
3	Abdulla Muradov		c.1996
4	Sharif Nazarov		c.2003	9	4	2	2	45%
5	Zoir Babaev		2004	6	2	1	3	34%
6	Sharif Nazarov		2004–2006	11	6	2	3	55%
7	Makhmadjon Khabibulloev		2007– Dec 2007	7	1	3	3	14%
8	Pulod Kodirov		Jan 2008 – Aug 2011	17	10	4	3	59%
9	Alimzhon Rafikov		Aug 2011 – Feb 2012	5	0	0	5	0%
10	Kemal Alispahić		Feb 2012 – Apr 2012	4	1	1	2	25%
11	Nikola Kavazović		Sep 2012–	5	3	0	2	60%

Players

Current squad

The following players were named for 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifying.

No. Pos. Player DoB/Age Caps Club 1 1GK Alisher Tuychiev (1976-03-03)3 March 1976 (aged 36) Free Agent 16 1GK Alisher Dodov (1981-08-04)4 August 1981 (aged 31) Regar-TadAZ 23 1GK Abdulaziz Makhkamov FK Khujand 3 2DF Sokhib Suvonkulov (1988-09-15)15 September 1988 (aged 24) Istiqlol Dushanbe 5 2DF Eraj Rajabov (1990-11-09)9 November 1990 (aged 22) Istiqlol Dushanbe 6 2DF Davron Ergashev (1988-03-19)19 March 1988 (aged 24) FC Zhetysu 12 2DF Akhtam Nazarov (1988-02-08)8 February 1988 (aged 25) Istiqlol Dushanbe 14 2DF Alexei Negmatov (1986-01-04)4 January 1986 (aged 27) Regar-TadAZ 19 2DF Daler Tukhtasunov (1986-08-27)27 August 1986 (aged 26) Regar-TadAZ 22 2DF Naim Ulmasov (1992-04-26)26 April 1992 (aged 20) Istiqlol Dushanbe 2 3MF Jamshed Ismailov (1987-01-12) 12 January 1987 Regar-TadAZ 4 3MF Dilshod Vasiev (1988-02-12)12 February 1988 (aged 25) Istiqlol Dushanbe 7 3MF Ibrahim Rabimov (1987-08-03)3 August 1987 (aged 25) Istiqlol Dushanbe 9 3MF Nuriddin Davronov (1991-01-16)16 January 1991 (aged 22) Sloboda Užice 10 3MF Jakhongir Jalilov (1989-09-28)28 September 1989 (aged 23) Istiqlol Dushanbe 17 3MF Khurshed Mahmudov (Captain) (1982-08-08)8 August 1982 (aged 30) Regar-TadAZ 18 3MF Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev (1990-03-24)24 March 1990 (aged 22) Istiqlol Dushanbe 24 3MF Umedjon Sharipov Istiqlol Dushanbe 8 4FW Mahmadali Sodikov (1984-03-20)20 March 1984 (aged 28) FK Khujand 11 4FW Farhod Tohirov (1990-05-29)29 May 1990 (aged 22) Parvoz Bobojon Ghafurov 13 4FW Akhtam Khamroqulov (1988-01-30)30 January 1988 (aged 25) Regar-TadAZ 15 4FW Kamil Saidov (1989-01-25)25 January 1989 (aged 24) Regar-TadAZ 20 4FW Yusuf Rabiev (1979-05-24)24 May 1979 (aged 33) FK Khujand 21 4FW Jahongir Ergashev (1994-03-06)6 March 1994 (aged 18) Istiqlol Dushanbe

Recent callups

The following players have been called for the last 2 years.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up GK Mirali Murodov (1990-04-20)20 April 1990 (aged 22) 0 0 Energetik v. Uzbekistan, 15 November 2011 GK Rustam Rizoev (1979-03-04)4 March 1979 (aged 33) 0 0 Ravshan v. Iran, 6 November 2012 GK Vladimir Sysoev (1983-08-05)5 August 1983 (aged 29) Regar-TadAZ 2012 AFC Challenge Cup DF Furug Qodirov (1992-10-02) 2 October 1992 2 0 CSKA v. Syria, 28 July 2011 DF Odil Irgashev (1977-02-10) 10 February 1977 24 1 Ravshan v. North Korea, 6 September 2011 DF Safarali Karimov (1988-11-17) 17 November 1988 3 0 Regar-TadAZ v. North Korea, 6 September 2011 DF Akmal Saburov (1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 6 0 Regar-TadAZ v. Uzbekistan, 15 November 2011 DF Idibek Khabibulloev (1992-01-08) 8 January 1992 0 0 Khayr v. Uzbekistan, 15 November 2011 DF Farrukh Choriev (1984-07-24)24 July 1984 (aged 28) Regar-TadAZ 2012 AFC Challenge Cup DF Umed Khabibulloev (1978-11-12)12 November 1978 (aged 34) Istiqlol Dushanbe 2012 AFC Challenge Cup DF Farkhod Vasiev (1990-04-14)14 April 1990 (aged 22) FC Volgar Astrakhan v. North Korea, 29 February 2012 MF Asatullo Nurulloev (1984-06-21) 21 June 1984 11 0 Vakhsh v. Syria, 28 July 2011 MF Samad Shohzukhurov (1990-02-08) 8 February 1990 9 0 Energetik v. Syria, 28 July 2011 MF Manuchekhr Jalilov (1990-09-27) 27 September 1990 2 0 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk v. North Korea, 6 September 2011 MF Abdusamad Khojiboev (1981-12-02) 2 December 1981 0 0 Energetik v. Uzbekistan, 15 November 2011 MF Ilkhomjon Ortiqov (1985-10-25)25 October 1985 (aged 27) CSKA Pomir 2012 AFC Challenge Cup FW Nizom Rakhimov (1979-11-12) 12 November 1979 15 6 Khayr v. Sri Lanka, 29 March 2011 FW Numonjon Hakimov (1978-09-05) 5 September 1978 34 13 Ravshan v. North Korea, 6 September 2011 FW Navruz Rustamov (1976-12-17) 17 December 1976 0 0 Ravshan v. Japan, 11 October 2011 FW Davronjon Tukhtasunov (1990-05-14) 14 May 1990 16 2 Ravshan v. North Korea, 29 February 2012

Top goalscorers

As of 22 February 2010, the players with the most goals for Tajikistan are:

#	Name	Career	Goals
1	Yusuf Rabiev*	2003–	15
2	Numonjon Hakimov*	2003–	14
3	Tokhirjon Muminov	1993–2000	10
4	Alier Ashurmamadov	1992–2005	8
5	Ibrahim Rabimov*	2003–	7
5	Djomikhon Mukhidinov*	2003–	7
7	Chukhrat Djabarov	1997–2000	6
7	Khurshed Makhmudov*	2005–	6
8	Sukhrob Khamidov	2000–2003	5
8	Arsen Avakov	1996–1997	5

The records are collected based on data from RSSSF.
*denotes a player still playing or available for selection.

External links

• Tajikistan profile at FIFA.com (English)
• Tajikistan profile at Ukrainian Football News (Ukrainian)
• Official Website of Tajikistan Football (Ukrainian)

Preceded by Newly Created

AFC Challenge Cup Champions 2006 (First title)

Succeeded by 2008 India