Sports in Uzbekistan includes sports that are played worldwide, such as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

, and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

, as well as sports that originate in the country such as

kurash Köräş (also kuresh, koresh, küreş, güreş and similar variants) refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practiced in Central Asia. Köräş wrestlers (Turkish:Güreş, ''köräşçelär''; , ''küreščiler'') use towels to hold t ...

, which is a type of upright wrestling, belbogli kurash, turon, and boyqurgan. Uzbekistan will host the

2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup The 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup was the tenth edition of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was held in Uzbekistan. ...

and the 2025 Asian Youth Games.

Olympics

Since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has taken part in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

and

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

with increasing success. Uzbekistan has competed four times at the

, collecting one gold medal and five bronze medals in

, two gold medals and two silver medals in

, and a silver medal in

. Uzbekistan's only medal at the

was a gold medal in

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

in 1994. In the 2016 Rio Olympics Ruslan Nurudinov won gold in the men's 105 kg weightlifting, lifting a total of 431 kg, including an Olympic record 237 kg in the clean & jerk. Uzbek athletes were particularly successful at the 2021 Olympic games in Tokyo. The country won three gold medals: Ulugbek Rashitov in Taekwondo, Akbar Djuraev in Weightlifting and Bakhodir Jalolov in Boxing. Uzbek gymnast Oxana Chusovitina also competed in her 8th Olympic games under the Uzbek flag at the event.

Football

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

is the most popular sport in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan's premier football league is the

Uzbek League Uzbekistan Super League (; ), known as Artel Uzbekistan Super League due to sponsorship reasons (; ), is the top division of professional football in Uzbekistan. It is operated under the auspices of the Uzbekistan Professional Football League a ...

. The team with the most championships is

FC Pakhtakor Tashkent Pakhtakor Football Club () is an Uzbek professional association football, football club, based in the capital city of Tashkent, that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Pakhtakor is often considered the most successful football club in Uzbek ...

with eight. The current

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

(2017) is Marat Bikmaev. The most successful football clubs in Uzbekistan are

FC Bunyodkor Football Club Bunyodkor () is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Bunyodkor, a relatively unknown club at the time, made international headlines when it claimed to be close to sig ...

FC Pakhtakor Pakhtakor Football Club () is an Uzbek professional football club, based in the capital city of Tashkent, that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Pakhtakor is often considered the most successful football club in Uzbekistan. Pakhtakor was ...

and

FC Nasaf Football Club Nasaf (), commonly referred to as Nasaf Qarshi, is a professional association football, football club based in Qarshi (Qashqadaryo Region), Uzbekistan. Founded in 1986, the club competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. History Nam ...

. In 2011, FC Nasaf won

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

and became the first Uzbekistan team to win the international club cup. Uzbek clubs previously participated in the now-defunct, formerly annual

CIS Cup The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup () is a defunct annual regional association football tournament, recognized by FIFA. The tournament was initially established for football clubs of the former Soviet Union republics in 1993 (a year late ...

. Uzbekistan U-16 won

AFC U-16 Championship The AFC U-17 Asian Cup, formerly known as the AFC U-16 Championship and AFC U-17 Championship, is a football competition, organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) held once every two years for Asian under-17 teams that also serves as a q ...

in 2012. In 2018 Uzbekistan U-23 became the champions in

AFC U-23 Championship The AFC U-23 Asian Cup, previously the AFC U-22 Championship (in 2013) and AFC U-23 Championship (between 2016 and 2020), is a biennial international football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the men's under-23 n ...

hosted by China. Uzbekistan national team's best achievement at the

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

was a fourth-place finish at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

Ravshan Irmatov Ravshan Sayfiddin oʻgʻli Irmatov (; ; born August 9, 1977) is an Uzbek professional football referee. He officiated in the Uzbek League from 2000-2019 and internationally from 2003-2019. Irmatov holds the record for officiating the most FIFA ...

was named The Best Referee in Asia in four consecutive years (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014). At

Globe Soccer Awards The Globe Soccer Awards are awards which acknowledge achievements in football. The event is organized by Globe Soccer and involves participation from international football organizations such as UEFA, UAE Pro League, ECA (European Clubs Associ ...

in 2015 he was rewarded as Best Referee of The Year. The

Bunyodkor Stadium Milliy Stadium (, ), formerly Bunyodkor Stadium is a football stadium in the city of Tashkent — the capital of Uzbekistan. Located in Chilanzar District of Tashkent, on Bunyodkor Avenue. It seats 34,000 spectators, thus becoming the largest st ...

has a capacity of 34,000, and is mostly used for football matches. Uzbekistan's national team qualified for the

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

, their first qualification.

Basketball

Uzbekistan used to be part of the powerful

Soviet Union national basketball team The Soviet Union men's national basketball team () was the national basketball team that represented the Soviet Union in international competitions. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor countries all set up their own ...

. After the dissolution of the team, Uzbekistan founded its own team which was moderately successful between the mid-90s and mid-2000s.

Baseball

Ice hockey

Uzbekistan used to be part of the

Soviet Union national ice hockey team The Soviet national ice hockey team was the national men's ice hockey team of the Soviet Union. From 1954 to 1991, the team won at least one medal each year at either the Ice Hockey World Championships or the Olympic hockey tournament. After ...

Humo Tashkent Hockey Club Humo, (Uzbek language, Uzbek: ; ) commonly referred to as Humo Tashkent, is a professional ice hockey team based in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Originally a member of the Uzbekistan Ice Hockey League, Humo joined the Pro Hokei Ligasy for th ...

, a professional ice hockey team was established in 2019, with the aim of joining

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL). Humo play their games at the

Humo Ice Dome The Humo Arena, also known as Ice Dome Tashkent or Humo Ice Dome, () is a multifunctional indoor arena located in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Humo Arena is the biggest hockey arena in Central Asia with a capacity of 12,500 and the second after the Belar ...

costing over €175 million; both the team and arena derive their name from the mythical

Huma bird The Huma (, pronounced ''Homā'', ), also Homa or Homay, is a mythical bird of Iranian legends and fables, and continuing as a common motif in Sufi and Diwan poetry. Although there are many legends of the creature, common to all is that the bird ...

, a symbol of happiness and freedom. Humo Tashkent was a member of the reformed Uzbekistan Ice Hockey League which began play in February 2019. The UIHL consisted of three other teams Binokor Tashkent,

HK Tashkent Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, & Semurg Tashkent, with all of the teams playing out of the Humo Ice Dome. Semurg became the champions in the playoffs. Uzbekistan Hockey Federation (UHF) joined the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey to ...

(IIHF) as a member in 2019. The men's national team competes in IIHF Division IV.

Rugby union

Uzbekistan used to be part of the

Soviet Union national rugby union team The USSR national rugby union team represented the Soviet Union in rugby union until the early 1990s. History Although tournaments such as the Soviet Cup and the Soviet Championship existed, rugby never became a major sport in the USSR. Rugby ...

, but since its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan has created its own

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Handball

Handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

is one of Uzbekistan's most popular sports, but nothing special has been achieved.

Futsal

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

is one of Uzbekistan's most popular sports. The national futsal team qualified for the

FIFA Futsal World Cup The FIFA Futsal World Cup is an international futsal competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. Since the first edition that took place in 1989 in the Netherla ...

three times. They also qualified in the

AFC Futsal Asian Cup The AFC Futsal Asian Cup, previously the AFC Futsal Championship, is the premier international futsal competition for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) national teams. It was first held in 1999 and was played annually until 2008; since then ...

15 times and finished 2nd four times. Uzbekistan hosted the

, the first time that the country has hosted a FIFA tournament. Uzbekistan women's national futsal team has been playing since 2005.

Water polo

Uzbekistan's women's national under-20

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

team qualified to the 2021

FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships FINA Junior Water Polo World Championships is an international water polo tournament held every two years for the players under the age of 20. It was launched by FINA in 1981 for men and in 1995 for women . Editions Men Women * World Aquatics ...

Chess

Uzbekistan scored a surprise win at the 2022 chess olympiad held in Chennai, India. The Uzbek team was undefeated, beating the higher-seeded Armenian and Dutch teams, and drawing the top seeds India and USA. The Uzbek team proved their staying power by placing second at the world team championships held at Jerusalem in November 2022. Uzbekistan's top player, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the current world champion of rapid chess, winning the 2021 rapid world championship in a playoff against Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi.

Notable athletes

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov Djamolidine Mirgarifanovich Abdoujaparov (; born 28 February 1964) is a former professional road racing cyclist from Uzbekistan. Abdoujaparov was a sprinter, nicknamed "The Tashkent Terror" as he was so ferocious in the sprints. His unorthodox ...

, cyclist *

Artur Taymazov Artur Borisovich Taymazov (; ; born 20 July 1979) is an Uzbekistan, Uzbek-Russian Sport wrestling, wrestler and politician and a ethnics Ossetian. He was Uzbekistan's most decorated Olympian before being stripped of two gold medals for doping. ...

, wrestler *

Ruslan Chagaev Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev (; ; ); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2016. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title twice ( Regular version in his second reign) and w ...

, boxer * Lina Cheryazova, freestyle skier *

Elvira Saadi Elvira Fuadovna Saadi (born January 2, 1952) is a retired gymnast from the former Soviet Union and a former elite gymnastics coach in Canada. As a member of the Soviet Union's women's gymnastics team, Saadi shared in the team gold medals at the ...

, gymnast *

Maksim Shatskikh Maksim Aleksandrovich Shatskikh (born 30 August 1978) is an Uzbekistani professional football coach of Pakhtakor Tashkent and a former player. A prolific striker, he is widely regarded as one of the best Uzbekistani player of all time and was ...

, footballer *

Nodirbek Abdusattorov Nodirbek Abdusattorov (; born 18 September 2004) is an Uzbek chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he qualified for the grandmaster title at the age of 13 years, 1 month, and 11 days. FIDE awarded him the title in April 2018. He is Uzbekistan's h ...

, chess player

Also See

Kurash Köräş (also kuresh, koresh, küreş, güreş and similar variants) refers to a number of folk wrestling styles practiced in Central Asia. Köräş wrestlers (Turkish:Güreş, ''köräşçelär''; , ''küreščiler'') use towels to hold t ...

References

External links

Uzbek Olympic medal winners
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sport In Uzbekistan