Uzbekistan

1912 is considered the year of the birth of football in Uzbekistan, since it was then that football teams were created in Kokand. The first championship of Ferghana valley was held in 1914, the Uzbekistan SSR Championship was established in 1926, and the drawing of the Uzbekistan SSR Cup has been played since 1939. From 1924 to 1991 Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union (USSR) as the Uzbekistan Soviet Socialist Republic (UzSSR).

In 1928, the Uzbekistan national football team was created, taking place in the Spartakiade, which included representatives of some European countries. In this tournament, the national team of Uzbekistan Soviet Socialist Republic held its first international match against Switzerland and won 8–4.

Until mid-1991, Uzbekistan was part of the USSR and had its own national team as well as the rest of the Union republics, which mostly played matches within teams of the USSR, in particular in football tournaments of the Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR. The Uzbekistan SSR national team participated in all draws of the Spartakiad of Peoples of the USSR football tournaments, and in 1986 reached the final, losing to the Ukrainian SSR (modern Ukraine) team 1–0, winning the silver medal. Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan SSR was one of the six main centers of football development in the country, alongside Russia SFSR, Ukraine SSR, Belarus SSR, Georgia SSR and Armenia. The most powerful football clubs, as well as semi-professional and professional clubs were in the USSR Football League (Higher League, First League, Second League and Second League B) and USSR Cup. Nonprofessional clubs of the Uzbekistan SSR participated in the Uzbekistan SSR Championship and the Uzbekistan SSR Cup.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan gained independence, and a new Uzbekistan national team was organized. The national team held its first match in 1992, a game against Tajikistan, in the framework of the 1992 Central Asian Cup (the tournament was held once, initiated by FIFA). In 1992, Uzbekistan was also a member of the CIS national football team, which existed for one year and replaced the USSR national football team and instead participated in Euro 1992. The Uzbekistan national team did not play the following year.

Most of the former Soviet republics became members of UEFA (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan). While Uzbekistan also wanted to become a member of UEFA, the rest of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan), chose the Asian Football Confederation. In 2002, Kazakhstan became a member of UEFA for football development, but Uzbekistan chose to remain in the AFC.^[]

In 1994, the Uzbekistan Football Federation was officially adopted by the AFC and FIFA. In the same year Uzbekistan won the Uzbekistan Independence Cup.

In the 1994 Asian Games, Uzbekistan were grouped with powerhouse Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Malaysia, alongside Hong Kong. After a 4–1 victory over the Saudis, Uzbekistan followed up with a 5–0 victory over Malaysia and a 1–0 win over Hong Kong before winning the group with a 5–4 win against Thailand. In the quarter-finals, Uzbekistan defeated Turkmenistan 3–0 to advance to the semi-finals where they faced South Korea. The Korean side included nine players that had already participated in the 1994 FIFA World Cup; despite this, Uzbekistan shocked South Korea with a 1–0 victory to advance to the final, its first ever final since gaining independence from the Soviet Union. In their final game against China, Uzbekistan defeated the Chinese 4–2 to capture its first and only Asian honor two years after its creation.

In the 1996 AFC Asian Cup, Uzbekistan was grouped with Japan, China and Syria, and were eliminated in the group stage. Uzbekistan's first-ever attempt to qualify for the World Cup was in 1998. Grouped with Yemen, Cambodia and Indonesia in the first stage, Uzbekistan won every match except for the away fixture against Indonesia. Shortly after, the Uzbeks played South Korea, Japan and the UAE, and failed to qualify for the tournament.^[]

The 2000 AFC Asian Cup saw the Uzbeks with Japan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, gaining only a point against the latter with a draw. Uzbekistan participated in the first round in order to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea, and eventually made the second round. The group contained China, the UAE, Oman and Qatar, and the Uzbeks were unable to make any major breakthrough in the second round, losing twice to the UAE, and suffering two away defeats to China and Oman. An away draw to Qatar confirmed Uzbekistan's failure to qualify, despite a late win over already qualified China in the final match.^[]

Uzbekistan failed to make further impact on the continental stage until they reached the last eight of the 2004 Asian Cup, topping their group after winning all matches, where they were beaten by Bahrain after a penalty shoot-out.^[] The country would eventually defeat Iraq in the second qualifying round for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, with goals from Maksim Shatskikh and Alexander Geynrikh sending them through to the last eight. They were knocked out in the final stage of the Asian qualification to the 2006 World Cup after losing on the away goals rule to Bahrain. The result was subject to controversy as three games were played; the first, a 1–0 win for Uzbekistan was wiped out after FIFA declared the result void after a mistake by Toshimitsu Yoshida, a Japanese referee. The replay ended 1–1, and after the return finished 0–0, Uzbekistan were eliminated.

In the 2007 Asian Cup, Uzbekistan advanced from the group stage by beating Malaysia 5–0 and China PR 3–0. However, Uzbekistan was knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals by losing to Saudi Arabia 2–1.^[]

After having three foreign coaches (German Hans-Jürgen Gede, Englishman Bob Houghton and Russian Valeri Nepomniachi) in three years, the country turned to former Uzbekistan Olympic team coach Rauf Inileev. During qualification for the 2010 World Cup, Uzbekistan advanced to the fourth round of the Asian qualifiers after winning their first four matches, but finished last in Group A of the final round behind favorites Australia, Japan, Bahrain and Qatar, with four points from eight matches.

In the 2011 Asian Cup, Uzbekistan ended in fourth place, their all-time best result in the tournament. After getting past the group stage and quarter-finals, the Uzbek team lost their first opportunity to reach the Asian Cup final when Australia thrashed them 6–0 in the semi-final game. Several days later, they were defeated again by South Korea in the third place match 3–2.

In qualification for the 2014 World Cup, Uzbekistan advanced to Asia's fourth round after winning their group in the third round over Japan. Uzbekistan finished with 16 points (five wins and one draw), more than any other team in the third round, including an impressive 1–0 away win against Japan. In the fourth round, Uzbekistan finished third in Group A behind Iran and South Korea, and lost to South Korea (14 points) on goal difference, and would eventually play Jordan in the fifth round to determine the AFC participant in the intercontinental play-off. On 10 September 2013, with the two teams drawn at the end of the second leg, Jordan eventually progressed to the intercontinental play-off after winning 9–8 on penalties.

In the 2015 Asian Cup, Uzbekistan advanced to the quarter-finals after finishing as runners-up in Group B, won by China. The team was knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals after losing 2–0 in extra time to South Korea.

Uzbekistan continued their quest to head to the World Cup during 2018 World Cup qualification, but their campaign had been shattered with a 4–2 defeat to North Korea. However, the Uzbeks soon bounced back and won the last remaining matches to top the group and qualified to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup as well as the last round. Once again, Uzbekistan in the last round, missed an opportunity when they finished fourth, behind Iran, South Korea and Syria, when Uzbekistan could only manage a 0–0 draw to the South Koreans in the last match.

Uzbekistan started their 2019 Asian Cup campaign with a 2–1 victory over Oman and continued with a 4–0 win over Turkmenistan, which guaranteed Uzbekistan to progress from the group stage for the fifth consecutive time, despite ending with a 1–2 defeat to Japan in the last match. Facing Australia, defending Asian champions, Uzbekistan drew 0–0 after 120 minutes. In the penalty shootout, Australia prevailed with a 4–2 win.

In the second qualifying round for the 2022 World Cup, Uzbekistan suffered another disappointment by failing to qualify for the final round. The White Wolves accumulated five wins and three defeats. Moreover, Uzbekistan's failure was also compounded by the fact that North Korea, originally in Group H of the same round, surprisingly withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in which FIFA and the AFC then ruled North Korea's results as null and void. This caused Lebanon to qualify ahead of Uzbekistan, since Lebanon's original results against North Korea were a draw and a loss.

Uzbekistan took part in the third qualifying round for the 2023 Asian Cup. Designated as the host country of Group C (due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia), the Central Asians won all three games and finished top of their group without conceding a goal, confirming their qualification for the tournament. Uzbekistan was placed in Group B with Australia, Syria and India. Prior to the tournament, Uzbek all-time top goalscorer Eldor Shomurodov sustained a leg injury, ruling him out of the squad. Uzbekistan drew 0–0 in their opening game against Syria and won against India 3–0. In their last match against Australia, Uzbekistan drew 1–1 to seal a place in the round of 16 as the second-placed team in their group. They faced Thailand, whom they managed to beat 2–1. In the quarter-finals, they faced hosts Qatar. With the match drawn 1–1 after extra time, Uzbekistan lost 3–2 in the penalty shoot-out.

Uzbekistan were unbeaten throughout their entire second qualifying round for the 2026 World Cup, winning four matches and drawing two, and entered the third qualifying round as second place in the group. In the third round, the team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in history, with one match to spare after an away goalless draw with the United Arab Emirates. This makes Uzbekistan the first Central Asian nation, as well as the third former Soviet republic after Russia and Ukraine, to qualify for the World Cup.