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Uzbekistan national football team

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Uzbekistan
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Oq boʻrilar/Oқ бўpилap
(White Wolves)
AssociationUzbekistan Football Federation
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Head coachMirjalol Qosimov
CaptainServer Djeparov
Most capsTimur Kapadze (97)
Top scorerMaksim Shatskikh (34)
Home stadiumPakhtakor Markaziy Stadium
FIFA codeUZB
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current70 Decrease7
Highest45 (November 2006)
Lowest119 (November 1996)
First international
Tajikistan 2–2 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
(Dushanbe, Tajikistan; 17 June 1992)
Biggest win
 Mongolia 0–15 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
(Chiang Mai, Thailand; December 5, 1998)
Biggest defeat
 Japan 8–1 Uzbekistan Uzbekistan
(Saida, Lebanon; October 17, 2000)
Asian Cup
Appearances5 (first in 1996)
Best resultFourth place; 2011

The Uzbekistan national football team represents Uzbekistan in association football and is controlled by the Uzbekistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's home ground is Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium in Tashkent and their current head coach is Mirjalol Qosimov.

History

After the split from the Soviet Union, they played their first match against Tajikistan on June 17, 1992. Uzbekistan have consistently been the strongest team out of the new Central Asian nations (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan). They won the football competition at the 1994 Asian Games in Japan. Uzbekistan have never qualified to the final stages of the World Cup.

Competition history

Overview

They were knocked out in the final stage of Asian qualification to the 2006 FIFA World Cup after losing on the away goals rule to Bahrain. The result was subject to controversy as actually three games were played; the first, a 1–0 win for Uzbekistan, was wiped out after FIFA declared the result void after a mistake by Toshimitsu Yoshida, a Japanese referee. The replay ended 1–1, and after the return finished 0–0, Uzbekistan were eliminated.

In the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, Uzbekistan was able to get past the group stage by beating Malaysia 5–1 and China PR 4–0. However, Uzbekistan was knocked out of the tournament in the quarterfinals stage by losing to Saudi Arabia 2–1.

Four years later, in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Uzbekistan ended in fourth place, their best result in the tournament so far. After getting past the group stage and quarterfinals, the Uzbek team lost what it might have been their first Asian Cup final when Australia thrashed the team 0–6 their semifinal game. Some days later they were defeated again by South Korea in the third place playoff.[1]

Asian Games

1994 Asian Games Final starting lineup on October 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan).

Uzbekistan won the 1994 Asian Games tournament as debutants, but failed to make further impact on the continental stage until they reached the last eight of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, where they were beaten by Bahrain after a penalty shoot-out.

That performance was followed by victory over Iraq in the second qualifying round for Germany 2006, with goals from Maksim Shatskikh and Alexander Geynrikh sending them through to the last eight. In the final qualifying round, they finished third, thus setting up a play-off against Bahrain, who once again advanced at their expense.

After having three foreign coaches (German Hans Jurgen Gede, Englishman Bob Houghton and Russian Vladimir Nepomniatchi) in three years, Uzbekistan turned to former Uzbekistan Olympic team coach Rauf Inileev. In the qualifying series for the 2010 FIFA World Cup Uzbekistan advanced to the fourth round of Asian qualifying after winning their first four matches, but in the final round of qualifying finished last in Group A behind favorites Australia, Japan,Bahrain and Qatar, with four points from eight matches.

  • 1951 to 1990Did not participate; was part of USSR
  • 1994 - 1st place, gold medalist(s) Champions
  • 1998 - Quarter-finals
  • 2002 - Group Stage
  • 2006 - Quarter-finals
  • 2010 - Quarter-finals

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

World Cup record

Asian Cup