Uzbekistan shows strength no less than Asia's leading giants - Photo: REUTERS
Poor in economics , but strong in sports science
For the first time in history, Uzbekistan has qualified for the World Cup. It is the result of a 10-year journey of continuously promoting youth football, demonstrated through impressive titles.
At youth level, Uzbekistan have produced a remarkable run of titles across all age groups. In 2018, they won the AFC U23 Championship, before reaching the final of the tournament twice more in 2022 and 2024.
In 2023, Uzbekistan won the U20 Asian Championship again. And most recently, U17 Uzbekistan won the Asian Championship when they defeated Saudi Arabia in the final match with a score of 9-11.
The current strong Uzbekistan team is a reflection of those youth football successes. From Khusanov, Ashurmatov to Fayzullaev, Shomurodov, the current Uzbekistan team possesses many talented players who have fought in Europe.
Youth training is obviously a formula for success. But how can football from a country with poor economic potential explode in terms of football training, and more broadly, sports training?
The answer may lie in the laboratories of Russia – once the brains of Soviet sports. And Uzbekistan is part of that.
Uzbekistan became independent from the former Soviet Union in 1991. But the Central Asian nation's ties to Russia remain strong.
Uzbeks share a common ethnic background with the Tatars and Bashkirs, the major ethnic groups in Russia. It is easy to see similarities in appearance and culture between Uzbeks and Chechens or Dagestan, federal entities in southern Russia.
Russian support
In sports in particular, Russians and Uzbeks have extremely close ties.
On June 5 and 8, while Uzbekistan was competing in the World Cup qualifiers, their U23 team hosted the Russian U23 team in Fergana.
These are not just training matches. According to Aleksei Fomin, head of the technical team of the Russian U23 team, the Russian players also carry mobile data analysis systems. This helps to monitor the performance, heart rate, speed and recovery of the home players.
“We not only compete, but also bring equipment and tactical analysis software to share. Uzbek coaches are very interested in applying scientific data in training,” Mr. Fomin told Izvestia .
Fayzullaev, the star currently playing for CSKA Moscow - Photo: REUTERS
This is part of the long-standing cooperation between the two countries in the field of sports - especially football - which has been promoted for many years through training programs, technology transfer and kinesiology research.
Uzbekistan currently has at least three football academies affiliated with prestigious Russian sports schools. The most notable of these is the cooperation with the Russian Sports University (GTSOLIFK). Here, young Uzbek players have access to 3D tactical simulation software, modern training programs and biometric testing systems that help determine optimal playing positions.
From 2023, a major project called “Transfer of the Russian-Uzbek school sports model” will be implemented in Tashkent, aiming to build a system for selecting football talents from high school level. This model is similar to the way Russia develops talents for Spartak Moscow or CSKA Moscow clubs.
Not only young players, some stars like Jaloliddin Masharipov and Rustam Ashurmatov were also taken to sports centers in Kazan and Moscow to recover from injuries, analyze movements and perfect techniques.
They become role models for the next generation. As part of the project to build a “smart sports city” in Tashkent, Uzbekistan imported athlete management software from the NaukaSport Company (Russia).
Uzbekistan (in blue) beat giants like UAE and Qatar to win a ticket to the World Cup - Photo: REUTERS
At Bunyodkor's new stadium, each player is fitted with a bio-monitoring device that connects directly to the coach's dashboard, allowing real-time tactical adjustments.
“Uzbekistan is going in a direction that not many Central Asian countries dare to take: using data science to make football systematic,” said expert Andrea Olsson from the Goethe Institute (Sweden). And the Russians are very visible.
Even the genetic screening technology deployed by sports science laboratories in Uzbekistan 12 years ago is considered to have links to Russia.
There will certainly be many Eastern European teams present at the 2026 World Cup. But with Croatia, Serbia or Poland, they have long had their own strong sports, following the development of science and economy.
As for Uzbekistan, the football world can see somewhere the image of a "black-headed" Russian team (*) at the 2026 World Cup.
(*) "Black-headed" Russians is a popular term for Russians who are not of Slavic origin, mostly of Turkic or Caucasian origin.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/fifa-cam-nga-nhung-da-co-uzbekistan-20250606194827735.htm
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