A historic FIFA World Cup in Baku: Uzbekistan U-15 team becomes unrivaled in Central Asia

31 October 2026, 07:25·57·Sport

The FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival, organized for the first time in football history for players under 15 years old, has concluded in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. In this major tournament, which featured representatives from 189 national associations, the Uzbekistan U-15 national team recorded the highest result among representatives of the Central Asian region.

In the competition held from October 24–30, the Uzbek teenagers secured 42nd place in the overall standings, significantly outperforming all their regional rivals.

Neighbors' derby: Uzbekistan's confident victory

One of the most important and notable clashes of the tournament took place during the group stage:

Principled match: In the group stage, the youth teams of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan faced each other;
Confident victory: Our compatriots scored 2 unanswered goals against their opponents, winning with a score of 2:0;
Goal scorers: While Javohirbek Erkinov opened the scoring in the 28th minute, Roman Ayzattulov solidified the lead in the 34th minute, sealing the final result.

Performance of Central Asian national teams

Among the 189 countries, the Central Asian nations were ranked as follows in the final table:

1. Uzbekistan — 42nd place (best result in the region);
2. Kyrgyzstan — 52nd place;
3. Kazakhstan — 85th place (defeated Mozambique 4:1 in their final match of the tournament);
4. Tajikistan — 97th place;
5. Turkmenistan — 121st place.

FIFA's new format: 8×8 format and short halves

This inaugural festival was held under special regulations designed to discover young talents and strengthen global integration:

Game format: The matches were played in a condensed 8×8 format;
Time limit: Each match consisted of two parts, with halves lasting 20 minutes each (40 minutes in total).

The successful participation of the Uzbek teenagers on such a large global stage with 189 teams, and their achievement of regional leadership, once again proved that youth football in the country is on the right path of development.