Mergen Guvanchmyradovich Orazov () is a Turkmenistani

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 ...

manager who manages the

DFK Dainava Dzūkija Futbolo Klubas Dainava, in short, DFK Dainava, is a Lithuanian football club from Alytus. The club was established in 2016 as a phoenix club after FK Dainava Alytus was dissolved in 2014. History The modern DFK Dainava was establishe ...

in Lithuanian

A Lyga The A Lyga is the top division of professional football in Lithuania. It is organized by Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) (). History The first football league was established in Lithuania in 1924, and in various forms existed until 1939. ...

. Orazov is a

UEFA Pro License The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of managers/ coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for football in Europe mandates several licences, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro ...

coach. He is former professional footballer and futsal player.

Career

Early years

Orazov was born in Bekrewe, now part of

Ashgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

. Orazov began playing football at an early age and at seven years of age, he was enrolled in the Ak Guş football team. At 16, he joined the youth team of Ashgabat's

Nisa Aşgabat Nisa Aşgabat is a Turkmen professional football club based in Aşgabat. They relegated from the top division in Turkmen football in 2006 and currently play in the second division, the Birinji liga. Their home stadium is Nisa-Çandybil Stadium ...

. Soon he began to be involved in the game and for the main team of the club. After graduating from high school, however, he enrolled at the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

and went to the United States.

Soccer playing career

In 2005, Orazow joined

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

in the United States.

Futsal playing career

Upon his return to

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

, Orazow took up professional

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 ...

. As a member of the club Arvana Ashgabat he became the champion of Turkmenistan five times.

International futsal career

Five times he played for the

Turkmenistan national futsal team The Turkmenistan national futsal team represents Turkmenistan in international futsal competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. Overview Turkmenistan can count themselves fortunate to have avoided preliminary qual ...

in the final tournaments of the

AFC Futsal Championship 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 i ...

Futsal coaching career

After concluding his professional playing career, Mergen Orazov became the head coach of the futsal club Köpetdag. Under his leadership, the team achieved notable success, winning the Turkmenistan Futsal Super League twice, including the 2020 season, in which he was also named Best Coach. In 2019, he also led Köpetdag to victory in the inaugural Turkmenistan Futsal Super Cup.

Soccer coaching career

His coaching career began in

Aşgabat Ashgabat (Turkmen language, Turkmen: ''Aşgabat'') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies between the Karakum Desert and the Kopet Dag, Kopetdag mountain range in Central Asia, approximately 50 km (30 ...

, where he worked as an assistant at the football club

FC Altyn Asyr Football Club Altyn Asyr (), also known as Altyn Asyr Ashgabat or simply Altyn Asyr, which translates to ''Golden Century'', is a Turkmenistan, Turkmen professional association football, football club based in Ashgabat. Founded in 2008, the club c ...

. He later went on to manage the team

FK Köpetdag Aşgabat FK Köpetdag Aşgabat (Football Club Köpetdag, ) is a professional football club based in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It currently plays in the top tier Ýokary Liga. Their home ground is Köpetdag Stadium which can hold 26,000 people. The Köpetdag ...

. In 2021, he was appointed manager of Ahal, helping them win the league, their first league title. Ahal also won the

Turkmenistan Cup The Turkmenistan Cup () is an annual knockout competition in men's domestic football in Turkmenistan. The Football Federation of Turkmenistan is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1993. T ...

and the Football Federation of Turkmenistan Cup. He was named the best coach of Turkmenistan in 2022. In 2023, he was appointed manager of

. On 24 June 2025, Lithuanian

club

announced the appointment of Mergen Orazov as their new head coach. Later that day, he made his debut in an

match against

FK Banga Gargždai FK Banga Gargždai is a Lithuanian professional association football, football club from the city of Gargždai. History FK Banga was founded in 1966. During the period from 1966 to 1990, the club was in the Soviet Lithuanian football champion ...

(2:1), leading

to their first victory of the 2025 season.

Honours

Ahal *

Ýokary Liga The Turkmenistan Higher League, also called Türkmenistan Ýokary Liga ( Turkmen: ''Ýokary liga futbol klublarynyň arasyndaky futbol boýunça Türkmenistanyň çempionaty''), is the top division of professional football in Turkmenistan, operat ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* Turkmenistan Football Federation Cup: 2022

Personal life

Graduated from

(US) with a degree in Business Management. He speaks

Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

/ref> and Russian language, Russian fluently.

References

External links

Mergen Orazov profile at A lyga
* Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Living people Penn State Nittany Lions men's soccer players Pennsylvania State University alumni Turkmenistan football managers Turkmenistan men's footballers Turkmenistan national football team managers Men's association football players not categorized by position Year of birth missing (living people) Men's futsal players by nationality A Lyga managers {{Turkmenistan-footy-bio-stub