Elman Tagaýew (born June 2, 1989 in Kyzyl-Arvat) is a Turkmen professional

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 ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

of Azerbaijani descent. He plays for

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 ...

club

FC Ahal Ahal Änew Football Club (), or simply Ahal FK, is a Turkmen professional football club based in the Änew, Ahal Province. Founded in 1989, the club played its first-ever top flight season in 1992. The club plays its home matches at the 20,000 ...

and the Turkmenistan national team.

Biography

Tagaýew was born in

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 ...

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 ...

to an Azerbaijani family. He began playing football at eight years old. In 2014, he married his wife Arina. In 2015, they had two twin sons named Alan and Ali.

Career

Club

Tagaýew started his career at

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 ...

before going on trial with Khazar Lankaran in early 2012. During his trial with Khazar Lankaran he appeared as a substitute, and scored, against

. Khazar declined to sign Tagaýew due to the players attitude during a game. Tagaýew went on to sign for

AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines (), also known as AZAL, is the national flag carrier and largest airline of Azerbaijan. Based in Baku, adjacent to Heydar Aliyev International Airport, the carrier operates to destinations across Asia, the Commonwealth of Ind ...

in the summer of 2012, but only made 8 appearances before leaving in March 2013. In June 2017, Tagayev signed a one-year contract with newly-promoted

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

team Səbail FK. Tagayev was released by

Sabail FK Sabail FK (, ) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku. The club participates in the Azerbaijan Premier League. History The club was established in 2016 and immediately joined the Azerbaijan First Division. After finishing their first seas ...

at the end of the 2017–18 season.

International

Elman Tagaýew played for the Turkmenistan national under-23 football team at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

in Guangzhou. Tagaýew's first international goal came against

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

in the

2012 AFC Challenge Cup The 2012 AFC Challenge Cup was the fourth edition of the tournament, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member nations that are mainly categorized as "emerging countries" in the defunct Vision Asia progr ...

group stage. As part of the national team of Turkmenistan, he became the finalist of the

Career statistics

Club

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 25 March 2025''

International goals

Honours

Turkmenistan *

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed ...

runner-up:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Individual *

Football Federation of Turkmenistan The Football Federation of Turkmenistan (; TFF) is the governing body of football and futsal in Turkmenistan. It is responsible for the national team, as well as club competitions History The Federation was founded in 1992 and in 1994 was ad ...

Footballer of the Year: 2021, 2024
/ref> * Ýokary Liga, Ýokary Liga Top Goalscorer: 2021 (10 goals)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tagayew, Elman 1989 births Living people Turkmenistan men's footballers 21st-century Turkmenistan sportsmen Turkmenistan men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Turkmenistan FC Aşgabat players Shuvalan FK players FC Andijon players Sabail FK players Azerbaijan Premier League players PFC Navbahor Namangan players Uzbekistan Super League players Ahal FK players FC Altyn Asyr players