Football in Turkmenistan

Country| Turkmenistan
Governing body| Football Association of Turkmenistan
National team(s)| Men's national team
Women's national team
Futsal national team
Women's futsal national team

National competitions

Ýokary Liga
Turkmenistan First League
Turkmenistan Cup
Turkmenistan Football Federation Cup

International competitions

AFC Champions League 2
FIFA World Cup
Asian Cup

Football is the most popular sport in Turkmenistan, a country that gained independence in 1991. The national association regularly takes part in competitions organised by FIFA and the AFC at senior and youth level. Valeri Nepomniachi is probably the most famous name in Turkmen football. He was the coach who led Cameroon to the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The Africans surprised many with their 1–0 win over defending champions Argentina in the opening match and finally bowed out in the quarter-finals.[1] There are 40 clubs, 820 players, and 30 referees in the country. The largest stadium by capacity in Turkmenistan is the 45,000-capacity Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Olympic Stadium.

## History of football in Turkmenistan

[edit]

### Soviet period

[edit]

Football in Turkmenistan started to develop in the 1920s, however the sport became more organised when the first championship of the Turkmen SSR was held in 1937. From 1937 until 1991, the most successful clubs were Neftyanik Kvasnovodsk and Pogranichnik Ashkhabad, each having won six Turkmen SSR Championship titles.[2]

Even though no team from the Turkmen SSR ever played in the Soviet Top League,[3] several footballers did, of whom most notably are Valeri Broshin, Kurban Berdyev, Sergey Agashkov, Ravshan Muhadov,[4] Dmitri Khomukha, Charyar Mukhadov and Vitaliy Kafanov.

The following Turkmenistani footballers had been members of USSR national football team:

Name | Position | Team | Caps(Goals) | Years

|
|
|
|

Valeri Broshin | Midfield |  USSR | 3(0) | 1987–1990

### Since independence

[edit]

Following independence from the Soviet Union, Football Association of Turkmenistan was established in 1992, and has been a member of FIFA and AFC since 1994. The Ýokary Liga and Turkmenistan Cup were reestablished in 1992. Since 1995, Turkmenistan has hosted the annual international football tournament known as Turkmenistan President's Cup. Turkmenistani clubs also participate in the annual CIS Cup.

The Turkmenistan national football team success came in 1993, when it became runners up in the 1993 ECO Cup losing 2–1 to the host nation Iran. More success followed when the team reached the quarter-finals stage of the 1994 Asian Games. Ten years later, the national team qualified for its only appearance in the continental tournament the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, then came close again for qualifying when reached the final of the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup losing to North Korea eventual champions in penalty shootouts.

The most well known Turkmenistani football personalities are Kurban Berdyev (head coach of Rubin Kazan, Champions of the Russian Premier League in 2008 and 2009) and Ashgabat-born Rolan Gusev (Russian national team footballer 2000-2005).

In March 2019, the Football Federation of Turkmenistan named Croatian Ante Miše to lead the national team, together with Sandro Tomić, signing one-year contract.[5]

## League system

[edit]

Level  | League(s)/Division(s)

|

1  | Ýokary Liga
9 clubs
↓↑ 1 club
2  | Birinji Liga
30 clubs

## Football stadiums in Turkmenistan

[edit]

#  | Stadium  | Capacity  | City  | Tenants  | Image

|
|
|
|
|

1 | Saparmurat Turkmenbashy Olympic Stadium | 45,000 | Ashgabat |  |
2 | Köpetdag Stadium | 26,503 | Ashgabat | FK Köpetdag Aşgabat |
3 | Ashgabat Stadium | 20,000 | Ashgabat | FC Ashgabat
FC Altyn Asyr
Ahal FK
Turkmenistan national football team |
4 | Sport Toplumy Stadium | 10,000 | Balkanabat | Balkan FK |
5 | Arkadag Stadium | 10,000 | Arkadag | FK Arkadag |

## Most successful clubs overall

[edit]

See also: List of football clubs by competitive honours won

local and lower league organizations are not included.

Club  | Domestic Titles  | Worldwide Titles  | Overall titles

|
|
|

Ýokary Liga | Turkmenistan Cup | Turkmenistan Super Cup | Federation Cup | Turkmenistan President's Cup | Total  | AFC Challenge League
Altyn Asyr | 8 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 24 | - | 24
Köpetdag | 6 | 7 | - | - | 3 | 16 | - | 16
Ýedigen | 4 | 2 | 3 | - | 3 | 12 | 1 | 13
Nebitçi | 4 | 4 | 3 | - | - | 11 | 1 | 12
Nisa | 4 | 1 | - | - | 4 | 9 | - | 9
Ahal Änew | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | - | 7 | - | 7
Arkadag | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 1 | 6
Aşgabat | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | - | 4 | - | 4
Şagadam | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | - | 3
Merw Mary | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 | - | 3
Bagtyyarlyk-Lebap | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1
Turan | - | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 1

* The articles in italic indicate the defunct leagues and the defunct cups.
* The figures in bold indicate the most times this competition has been won by a team.

## See also

[edit]

* Lists of stadiums

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Turkmenistan: FIFA Goal Programme". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2007. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
2. ^ "Turkmenistan - List of Champions". Rsssf.com. 2013-04-18. Archived from the original on 2022-08-11. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
3. ^ "Former Soviet Union - Regional Analysis". Rsssf.com. Archived from the original on 2022-07-13. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
4. ^ Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. "Rawşan Muhadow". National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2013-12-03.
5. ^ Анте Мише: «Я не Гарри Поттер, чтобы сборная Туркменистана сразу заиграла на высоком уровне» Archived 2019-03-31 at the Wayback Machine at turkmenportal.com, 28 March 2019

* v
* t
* e

Football in Turkmenistan

Football Association of Turkmenistan

National teams|

* Men's
* U-23
* U-20
* U-17
* Women's
* Futsal

National Leagues|

* Ýokary Liga
* Birinji liga

Cup comeptitions|

* Turkmenistan Cup
* Turkmenistan Super Cup
* Turkmenistan President’s Cup

Honours won

* v
* t
* e

Football in Asia

Sovereign states|

* Afghanistan
* Armenia
* Azerbaijan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* Cyprus
* Egypt
* Georgia
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* North Korea
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Russia
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Timor-Leste (East Timor)
* Turkey
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

States with
limited recognition|

* Abkhazia
* Northern Cyprus
* Palestine
* South Ossetia
* Taiwan

Dependencies and
other territories|

* British Indian Ocean Territory
* Christmas Island
* Cocos (Keeling) Islands
* Hong Kong
* Macau

* Category
* Asia portal

* v
* t
* e

League systems in sport

* League system
* Sports league
* Professional sports league organization
* Division (sport)
* Promotion and relegation
* Closed league
* Semi-closed league

American football|

* Germany

Association
football|

| AFC|

* Afghanistan
* Australia
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* China
* East Timor
* Guam
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Japan
* Jordan
* South Korea
* Kuwait
* Lebanon
* Macau
* Malaysia
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* Northern Mariana Islands
* Pakistan
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* Taiwan
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Vietnam

|

CAF|

* Algeria
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Comoros
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Ghana
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Madagascar
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Nigeria
* Réunion
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Seychelles
* Somalia
* South Africa
* Tunisia

CONCACAF|

* Anguilla
* Antigua and Barbuda
* Aruba
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bermuda
* Bonaire
* British Virgin Islands
* Canada
* Cayman Islands
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Curaçao
* Dominican Republic
* El Salvador
* French Guiana
* Guadeloupe
* Guatemala
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Martinique
* Mexico
* Montserrat
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Puerto Rico
* Saint Kitts and Nevis
* Saint Martin
* Sint Maarten
* Trinidad and Tobago
* Turks and Caicos Islands
* United States
* United States Virgin Islands

CONMEBOL|

* Argentina
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* Chile
* Colombia
* Ecuador
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Uruguay
* Venezuela

OFC|

* French Polynesia
* New Caledonia
* New Zealand
* Papua New Guinea
* Tuvalu

UEFA|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* England (women's)
* Estonia
* Faroe Islands
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany (women's)
* Gibraltar
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Israel
* Italy
* Kazakhstan
* Kosovo
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Northern Ireland
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Scotland
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey (women's)
* Ukraine
* Wales

Basketball|

| Continental|

* Europe
* South America

|

National|

* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Italy
* Japan
* Poland
* Russia
* Serbia
* Spain
* Turkey

Handball|

* Denmark
* Hungary

Ice hockey|

* United States

Rugby league|

* Great Britain
* France

Rugby union|

* England
* France
* Ireland
* New Zealand
* Scotland
* Wales

Shinty|

* Scotland

Sumo|

* Japan

Tennis|

* Davis Cup
* Billie Jean King Cup

Water polo|

* Hungary

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template