Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

is the most popular sport in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, a country that gained independence in 1991. The national association regularly takes part in competitions organised by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and the AFC at senior and youth level.

Valeri Nepomniachi Valery Kuzmich Nepomnyashchy (russian: Валерий Кузьмич Непомнящий; born 7 August 1943) is a Russian association football manager and a former player. He is currently in charge of youth development with Baltika Kaliningrad. ...

is probably the most famous name in Turkmen football. He was the coach who led

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

to the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The Africans surprised many with their 1–0 win over defending champions

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in the opening match and finally bowed out in the quarter-finals. There are 40 clubs, 820 players, and 30 referees in the country. The major stadiums are:

Köpetdag Stadium Köpetdag Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. It is currently used mostly for football matches and serves as the home for Köpetdag Aşgabat. The stadium holds 26,503 people and was built in 1997. History The stadiu ...

, ''Nabitchi'' (

Nebitdag , other_name = Neftedag Nebit-Dag , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_seal = , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Turkmenist ...

, 15,000 seats), and ''The Builder'' (

Ashgabat Ashgabat or Asgabat ( tk, Aşgabat, ; fa, عشق‌آباد, translit='Ešqābād, formerly named Poltoratsk ( rus, Полтора́цк, p=pəltɐˈratsk) between 1919 and 1927), is the capital and the largest city of Turkmenistan. It lies ...

, 11,000 seats).

History of football in Turkmenistan

Soviet period

Football in Turkmenistan started to develop in the 1920s, however the sport became more organised when in 1937 the first championship of the

Turkmen SSR 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 ...

was held. From 1937 until 1991, the most successful clubs were Neftyanik Kvasnovodsk and Pogranichnik Ashkhabad having won each six Turkmen SSR Championship Titles. Even though no team from the Turkmen SSR ever played in the

Soviet Top League The Soviet Top League, known after 1970 as the Higher League (russian: Чемпионат СССР по футболу: Высшая лига), served as the top division of Soviet Union football from 1936 until 1991. The professional top level ...

, several footballers did, of whom most notably are

Valeri Broshin Valeri (or Valery) Viktorovich Broshin (Russian: Валерий Викторович Брошин; 19 October 1962, Leningrad – 5 March 2009, Moscow) was a Russian-Turkmen professional association football, footballer and football manager ...

Kurban Berdyev Kurban Bekiyevich Berdyev ( tk, Gurban Bekiýewiç Berdiýew, russian: Курбан Бекиевич Бердыев; born 25 August 1952) is a Turkmen-Russian football manager, and a former Soviet footballer. He is the manager of Russian club S ...

, Sergey Agashkov, Ravshan Muhadov, Dmitri Khomukha, Charyar Mukhadov and

Vitaliy Kafanov Vitaly Vitalyevich Kafanov (russian: Виталий Витальевич Кафанов; tk, Witaliý Witalýewiç Kafanow; born 24 May 1960) is a Kazakhstani-Turkmenistani football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach of FC Ros ...

. The following

i footballers had been members of

USSR national football team The Soviet Union national football team ( rus, сбо́рная СССР по футбо́лу, r=sbórnaya SSSR po futbólu) was the national football team of the former Soviet Union. After the breakup of the Union the team was transformed in ...

Since independence

Following independence from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

Football Association of Turkmenistan The Football Federation of Turkmenistan ( tm, Türkmenistanyň Futbol Federasiýasy; TFF) is the governing body of football in Turkmenistan. History The Federation was founded in 1992 and in 1994 was admitted to FIFA, which registers all the m ...

was established in 1992, and has been a member of

and AFC since 1994. The

Ýokary Liga The Turkmenistan Higher League, also called Türkmenistan Ýokary Liga ( Turkmen: ''Türkmenistanyň Ýokary Ligasy''; Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East ...

and

Turkmenistan Cup The Turkmenistan Cup ( tk, Türkmenistanyň Kubogy) is an annually held football tournament for Turkmen football clubs, known as one of the most important national tournaments. The cup has been contested since 1993. The competition's most succ ...

were reestablished in 1992. Since 1995, Turkmenistan has hosted the annual international football tournament known as

Turkmenistan President's Cup Turkmenistan President’s Cup was an international football tournament in Turkmenistan which was created in 1995 and dissolved in 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Day of State Flag of Turkmenistan. The tournament prize money was US 35,000. Th ...

. Turkmenistani clubs also participate in the annual

CIS Cup The Commonwealth of Independent States Cup (russian: Кубок чемпионов Содружества, Кубок Содружества, Кубок чемпионов содружества стран СНГ и Балтии) is a defunct ann ...

. The

Turkmenistan national football team The Turkmenistan national football team ( tk, Türkmenistanyň milli futbol ýygyndysy) represents Turkmenistan in men's international football and it is controlled by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan, the governing body for football in T ...

success came in 1993, when it became runners up in the

1993 ECO Cup The ECO Cup 1993 was the last edition of the ECO Cup tournament, held in Tehran, Iran in 1993. Participants The participants were: * * * * * * Kazakhstan national under-21 football team, Kazakhstan U21 * Venues Group stage Group 1 ---- ...

losing 2–1 to the host nation

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. More success followed when the team reached the quarter-finals stage of the

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

. Ten years later, the national team qualified for its only appearance in the continental tournament the

2004 AFC Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. ...

, then came close again for qualifying when reached the final of the

2010 AFC Challenge Cup The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup was the third edition of the tournament which was held from 16–27 February 2010 in Sri Lanka. India, the defending champions, fielded their under-23 team for this tournament in preparation for the 2010 Asian Game ...

losing to

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

eventual champions in penalty shootouts. The most well known Turkmenistani football personalities are

(head coach of

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (russian: Футбо́льный клуб Руби́н Каза́нь, ''Futbolny klub Rubin Kazan'' , Tatar: Рубин Казан) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the second-tier ...

, ''Champions'' of the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

in 2008 and 2009) and

-born

Rolan Gusev Rolan Aleksandrovich Gusev (russian: Ролан Александрович Гусев; born 17 September 1977) is a Russian professional football coach and a former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of the Under-19 squad of ...

(Russian national team footballer 2000-2005). In March 2019, the

Football Federation of Turkmenistan The Football Federation of Turkmenistan ( tm, Türkmenistanyň Futbol Federasiýasy; TFF) is the governing body of football in Turkmenistan. History The Federation was founded in 1992 and in 1994 was admitted to FIFA, which registers all the m ...

named Croatian

Ante Miše Ante Miše (born 14 June 1967) is a Croatian football manager and former professional football player who played as a midfielder. As a player, he earned 7 caps in friendlies for Croatia in the period from 1992 to 1994. Playing career Club In ...

as the head coach of the Turkmenistan national football team, signing a one-year contract.Анте Мише: «Я не Гарри Поттер, чтобы сборная Туркменистана сразу заиграла на высоком уровне»
at turkmenportal.com, 28 March 2019 Croatian specialist Sandro Tomić will help to train the national team of Turkmenistan. Croatian coaches are set to develop the overall football in Turkmenistan, not just the national team.

League system

Turkmenistan football stadiums

References

{{League systems