Football in Uzbekistan

A year and eight months have passed since I was dispatched to Uzbekistan, and I have gradually come to understand the situation surrounding football in this country.

A few years ago, on the orders of the President, Uzbekistan began to reinforce its efforts to develop and strengthen football. Since then, the country hosted the AFC U23 Asian Cup™ Uzbekistan 2022 last year and finished as runners-up. This year, they hosted and won the AFC U-20 Asian Cup™ Uzbekistan 2023, and advanced through the group stage at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Argentina 2023™. The country will also host the AFC U20 Women's Asian Cup and the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ next year.

As part of these efforts, both the men's and women's teams are being strengthened with the goal of qualifying for the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad (Paris 2024).

The men's team is being strengthened throughout the year, with the U-23 team competing in the first division of the national football league. The women's team has been strengthened by the coaches dispatched from Japan, including myself, and the team has been participating in overseas training camps, which were not organised very often in the past.

Aiming to compete in the Paris Olympics

Only two teams from the AFC can take part in the Paris 2024 Women's Football Tournament. To qualify, the Uzbekistan Women's National Team must win their group or finish as the best-ranked runners-up in the second round to reach the final round, where they will compete for two places. The second round will be played in three groups of four teams and the draw has placed Uzbekistan in the same group as Japan, Vietnam, and India.

Looking back on the 19th Asian Games

The 19th Asian Games was held in Hangzhou, China, one month before the second round of the Paris Olympics qualifiers. It was the first time the Uzbekistan Women's National Team had participated in the Asian Games.

Since I have been dispatched here, the team has not had the opportunity to play other Asian countries outside of Central Asia, so this tournament was a great learning experience for the team, as it allowed us to find out where we currently stand in Asia. In addition, reaching the semi-finals gave us the opportunity to play five matches against Asian powerhouses and playing the host country, China PR, in the third-place match in front of a crowd of 38,000 was a great experience for the players ahead of the Olympic qualifiers.

We are expecting very tough competition in the second round, but we hope to make the most of the experience we gained at the Asian Games to advance through to the final round.