Thursday, 20, August, 2026

Sports

The Uzbekistan national football team suffered a 2-0 defeat against World Cup co-hosts Canada on Monday night, revealing vital lessons about late-game endurance just ahead of the global tournament.

The recent unveiling of Uzbekistan’s national team kits for the 2026 World Cup has sparked an unexpected controversy in the sportswear industry, with local brand 7SABER facing allegations of design replication. Industry analysts note that the underlying base fabric of the newly released jerseys bears a striking, near-identical resemblance to a highly anticipated proprietary material developed by German sportswear giant Adidas.

Fabio Cannavaro has announced an expanded 30-man squad for the 2026 World Cup, the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) reported.

As part of their final preparations for the FIFA World Cup, the Uzbekistan national team will face two formidable opponents in back-to-back friendlies. They will first take on World Cup co-host Canada on June 1, before rounding off their warm-up campaign against the Netherlands on June 8 which will be held behind closed doors.

The Uzbekistan national football team will hold a training camp in Tashkent from May 6 to May 26. As part of the sessions hosted at the National Football Center, the squad will play against Uzbekistan Super League clubs in closed-door friendly matches.

The Uzbekistan national ice hockey team has emerged victorious in Group B of the IIHF World Championship Division III. While this league ranks sixth in the international hockey hierarchy, the victory marks a significant milestone for the team.

According to the president’s Steps to improve sports financing mechanisms and expand involvement of business entities into the industry Decree, starting the 2026 season, 16 football clubs in the Uzbekistan Super League will get 560 billion soums (approximately $45.7 million) of funding directly from the state budget.

In the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup currently held in Australia, Uzbekistan has advanced to the quarter-finals as one of the best-performing third-placed teams. They secured their position on March 9, 2026, with an emphatic 4-0 victory over Bangladesh in Perth. 

As reported earlier, Uzbekistan will host the FIFA Series 2026 in March. Uzbekistan as a host has been grouped with Gabon, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, with matches to be played at the Pakhtakor and Bunyodkor stadiums.

VAR equipment has been installed at the Bukhara and Andijan stadiums, the Uzbekistan Football Association reported. Thiese efforts were implemented in line with the presidential decree on centralized VAR system at the Uzbek stadiums. The VAR systems installation and configuration at the teams' home stadiums has now been fully completed.

Opening ceremony of the World Aquatics regional center took place in Tashkent’s Olympic Village during a visit by a World Swimming Federation delegation.

FIFA has confirmed the full line-up of hosts and the composition of the groups for the FIFA Series 2026. Following the announcement of the expanded format in November 2025, the FIFA Series 2026 will feature 48 national teams competing in 12 groups of four teams each during the international match window in March and April.

Uzbekistan men’s national team head coach Fabio Cannavaro has announced a list of players for January training camp in the UAE starting Jan. 20.

According to the Uzbekistan Football Association, Uzbekistan national team, in preparation for the FIFA World Cup, is now scheduled to play a friendly match against Canada in Edmonton on June 1.

The head coach of Uzbekistan national team Fabio Cannavaro announced the squad for the international friendly tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

Three former assistant coaches of the head coach of Uzbekistan national team Srečko Katanec filed a lawsuit to the Dispute Resolution Chamber of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) against the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) demanding €350,000.

Fabio Cannavaro verbally agrees to become new Uzbekistan head coach as part of World Cup 2026. Agreement in place on contract terms with formal documents expected to be reviewed and signed in 24/48h.

The FIFA Council has selected Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan to host the FIFA Under-20 World Cup 2027, a historic tournament that will unite Europe and Asia while showcasing sport’s brightest young talent.

Uzbekistan’s PFC Nasaf (Sevinch) were drawn alongside People Republic of China’s Wuhan Jiangda FC, Islamic Republic of Iran's Bam Khatoon FC and India’s East Bengal FC in Group B of the AFC Women's Champions League 2025-26 on Thursday.

Uzbekistan defeated Iran in the second edition of CAFA Nations Cup, with Xojiakbar Alijonov scoring the goal goal of the match in the 120th minute at the Olympic City Stadium in Tashkent. However the result was overshadowed by a series of controversial refereeing decisions.