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World Cup Getty Images; design: Kelsea Petersen They were the sorts of scenes normally reserved for World Cup winners, not just participants. Fanatical supporters hailed their heroes as they completed a lap of honour around the pitch, while others dashed outside hoping to catch a glimpse of them as they departed the stadium. Outside, a giant national flag was emblazoned on a ferris wheel, while back in the city centre, hotels were lit up in national colours. Advertisement Uzbekistan is not a traditional footballing powerhouse, but something is stirring in the former Soviet state which, only 10 years ago, was ruled by a repressive authoritarian regime. Monday’s 5-4 penalty shootout win in a FIFA Series friendly against Venezuela did not mean much in a sporting sense, but it was a chance for Uzbekistanis to salute their side in their final game on home soil before they become the first Central Asian country to participate in a World Cup this summer. It is a seismic moment, with the repercussions felt not just in the capital Tashkent but all over the country. Football could be about to play a major role in changing perceptions of this once-secretive nation. “A decade ago in Uzbekistan to now is like the earth and the sky — completely different. ” Akbar Yusupov, a Tashkent resident since 2009 and a former amateur footballer, has seen many changes to his city, country and national football team. They pretty much go hand in hand, given that so many aspects of Uzbekistani life altered drastically with regime change in 2016 after the death of previous president Islam Karimov. Karimov became the country’s ruler upon independence from the former USSR in 1991 but during his 25-year presidency, dissent was prohibited, human rights repressed and political opponents assassinated. His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who had previously served as prime minister under Karimov, has instigated liberal reforms and opened the country up, both to new investment and tourism, but also to cooperation with the west and, crucially, religious freedoms. Officially, the country remains secular, but most of the population is Muslim: when the Venezuela game kicked off, many fans were still outside doing sunset prayers, an act that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. “Teachers and nurses would pick cotton from September to November, that was the reality of 10 years ago, ” says Akbar, who is editor-in-chief at the English-language newspaper The Tashkent Times. “If a western tourist travelled here before September 2016, there were no ATMs, no currency exchange offices, you’d need identification just to enter a bank, you weren’t even allowed to take pictures in a metro station (Tashkent’s underground metro network is essentially a giant art gallery, with Soviet-era artwork and even chandeliers). “It was a North Korea-lite, basically. But now attitudes are completely different. ” Advertisement Uzbekistan is far from a liberal democracy. The capital Tashkent may boast the sort of fashionable malls, high-end restaurants and sprawling hotels so beloved of Instagram users, but there are still many troubling vestiges of the old regime in day-to-day life. Opposition political parties are still not recognised, while the latest report on the country by human rights organisation Amnesty International highlights many deep concerns: from tight controls on free speech, “routine and pervasive” use of torture and “intimidation, physical assault, defamation on social media and arbitrary detention on false criminal charges” of members of the LGBT community. There was also a brutal crackdown on protestors in the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan in 2022, in which 21 people were killed and hundreds injured, according to Human Rights Watch. There has, however, been a slow unravelling of the police state and a reclaiming of the Uzbek language and national identity (the older generations speak Russian but young people tend to speak Uzbek). No one thinks the country has been cleansed of corruption, but the loosening of previously brutal restrictions by Mirziyoyev, who has invested trillions of Uzbekistani Som (one US dollar is the equivalent to 12, 000 Som) into cultural and sporting infrastructure in recent years, has made a difference. “People have been able to reclaim their Islamic past, ” Akbar says, reflecting on how Muslims’ places of learning or worship were closed during the eight decades of Soviet control. “We have much more religious openness. People see the leader as being in God’s shadow, or God’s deputy, because he has invested in the country and opened up religion. “Give us some liberties and World Cups and we’re happy. ” A two-hour train journey away in historic Samarkand, a mythical trade nexus on the ancient Silk Road trade route which dates back 2, 000 years and helped connect Europe, Africa and Asia, you won’t find many people speaking English, but there is still a universal language to converse in. Advertisement A young market trader at the bustling Siyob Bazaar, where fruit, ceramics, spices and tea are sold for a pittance (if you’re local, that is — tourists are charged four times as much unless you’re ready to haggle), doesn’t know the English word for money, or father, but mention the words ‘Premier League’ and the look of recognition is instant. “Khusanov, Manchester City, Premier League, ” he says, before asking who The Athletic follows. “Yes, Wolverhampton, good Liverpool, ” he adds, referencing Wolves’ recent victory over the Premier League champions. Khusanov, of course, is a reference to Abdukodir, Manchester City’s 22-year-old centre-back, who is not just the star of Uzbekistan’s national team, but their first star ever, certainly in global football terms. Football has been hugely popular in Uzbekistan for years, as has the Premier League, but qualifying for a World Cup has stirred national fervour in a country eager to show itself on a global stage. Their success in reaching the tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico hasn’t come from nowhere, however. Among their Central Asian rivals, Uzbekistan had earned the unwanted tag of ‘chokers’, having narrowly missed out on three World Cups this century. In 2006, when the team were ranked 45th in the world by FIFA, even higher than they are now (50th), they controversially lost a two-legged intercontinental play-off against Bahrain. A 1-0 first-leg home win was ordered to be replayed in full due to the referee incorrectly awarding a free kick to Bahrain when an Uzbekistan attacker encroached during a team-mate’s penalty. Instead of winning 2-0 had the penalty been converted, they drew the replay 1-1, and it was 0-0 in the away leg, meaning an away-goals defeat. And, yes, Uzbekistanis still talk about it today. In 2014, they agonisingly missed out on goal difference to South Korea. Then, in 2018, they were two points short of qualifying for the tournament in Russia, with South Korea edging them out again after the two sides drew 0-0 in Tashkent in the final group game. Advertisement No wonder qualifying for 2026, courtesy of a 0-0 draw away to the United Arab Emirates, triggered wild scenes in Tashkent and beyond, although, in truth, it was merely a reflection of the progress in Uzbekistani football in the last decade. “If you look at Uzbekistan, I know that the job they do at youth level is fantastic, the infrastructure they’ve built is unbelievable, ” said Arsene Wenger, the former Arsenal manager, as he reflected on FIFA’s expanded World Cup last year. Government-funded academies have been built, coaching philosophies have been introduced and a focus has been placed on technical, vertical attacking football via coaches tasked with producing elite footballers from a young age. In 2022, the government announced it had built 3, 500 mini-football fields across the country. While some countries go down the naturalised route when looking to improve their national teams, looking for parents and grandparents to lure players of a better standard, Uzbekistan have built from the ground floor upwards. Indeed, while the senior side is now gaining recognition with World Cup qualification, the country’s youth sides have been making waves for years, with many of the side that will take to the field in the U. S. this summer having already played together for years. Uzbekistan’s under-17s knocked England out of that age level’s World Cup in 2023, having drawn with Spain in the group stage. They reached the quarter-finals before a tight 1-0 defeat to France. In last year’s tournament, the under-17s beat Paraguay and Croatia and only just lost 3-2 to Italy in the last 16. The under-20s won the Asian Cup on home soil in 2023 and reached the knockouts of that World Cup in the same year, while in 2024 an under-23 side featuring Khusanov played in the Olympics for the first time. Advertisement Progress on the field has been underpinned by new infrastructure off it; a new national football centre opened in 2025, a 55, 000-seater stadium will be unveiled next year in time for Uzbekistan jointly hosting the Under-20 World Cup with Azerbaijan, while a new Olympic Stadium and village, complete with five sporting venues, has opened ahead of hosting the 2029 Asian Youth Games, the largest sporting event the country will ever have staged. The government says it commissioned 118 new sporting facilities from 2017 to 2022 while, according to local reports, Mirziyoyev used the announcement of a new national sports competition last year — the Presidential Olympics — to say that budget allocations for sports had doubled over the last four years from $115. 4m to $230. 78m, and that average salaries for coaches has also doubled. “They are pushing for recognition, ” Akbar says. “It’s the same Soviet thing, politics and sport intertwine; when you’re successful in world sports, people are impressed by the country. They want to put Uzbekistan on the world sports map. ” Having finished 13th in the medal table at the 2024 Paris Olympics, a target has been set for reaching the top 10 in 2028 in Los Angeles. It’s a lofty ambition for a country that had previously only placed as high as 21st. Medals in Paris were earned in taekwondo, judo, weightlifting, freestyle wrestling and boxing, with the latter two sports already very well established in Uzbekistan. Progress in football represents the taste of younger generations who stay up late to watch Premier League and Champions League matches (an 8pm kick-off in England will start at midnight in Tashkent). Efforts are also being made to improve the Uzbekistan Super League, where much of the national team still play, with tax exemptions offered for top-level players and a call for more private investment to raise standards. Tourism is a growing sector in Tashkent, but foreigners are still a tourist attraction themselves (“English” or “American” is shouted at The Athletic on countless occasions by curious locals) and an English-speaking walking tour of the city has precisely one attendee. Advertisement Essentially, then, it’s a private tour, and guide and football fanatic G’olib Toshniyozov is well placed to convey excitement about the upcoming World Cup. People will watch the games in restaurants, bars, big screens and courtyards, he says — and expectations are that the team will seriously compete. “Football is incredibly popular, ” says G’olib, a student who attends one of the city’s 28 universities, many of which are English-speaking. “Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City are the most popular teams and everyone is excited to watch the national team. The team has improved and so has the country. Uzbekistan, as a country, is developing day by day. ” At the famous Chorsu Bazaar, there is a dearth of football memorabilia, save for a small selection of keyrings, featuring Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City, plus Cristiano Ronaldo. Oh, and a commemorative plate of Uzbekistan’s second-most famous bodybuilder (apparently), Ko’rinar Ko’rinmas. Hundreds of Uzbekistanis are expected to travel to the U. S. this summer, while the leader of the noisy Andijan-based fan club (you’ll hear them this summer if their drums and trumpets are allowed into stadiums) is apparently heading out there in advance to teach U. S. -based Uzbekistanis how to sing, chant and support the team. Expectations are high and only getting higher, despite them being thrown in with a group containing Portugal and Colombia. To meet the demands of a first-ever World Cup, head coach Fabio Cannavaro, who lifted the trophy as Italy’s captain in 2006, was recently hired to add the international experience, nous and gravitas that the nation lacks. “I want warriors, ” the Italian told reporters after overseeing a 3-1 friendly victory over Gabon at a packed Milliy Stadium last Friday. “I want high intensity, always. This is the key for me, to have fighters. Advertisement “We will go to the World Cup to face top teams and if people think it’s easy, they will make a mistake. It’s Uzbekistan’s first time at the World Cup and we go to face everyone without fear. ” Years in the making, this is Uzbekistan’s first chance to shine, but you suspect it won’t be their last. “Uzbekistan don’t need a brilliant coach, just a good one, ” Akbar says. “The team has so much potential and has learned together for many years. It’s mental and physical work the team needs, not technical. If they have European standards to go with their ability and work ethic and motivation, they can go far. ” He signs off with a playful dig at Uzbekistan’s neighbours, Kazakhstan, and a reference to the comedy character played by Sacha Baron Cohen. “Borat made Kazakhstan famous, that’s one way to do it, ” he laughs. “This way might be better. ” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Tim Spiers is a football journalist for The Athletic, based in London. He joined in 2019 having previously worked at the Express & Star in Wolverhampton. Follow Tim on Twitter @Tim Spiers