Turkmen FIFA international football referees are taking part in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Referees Seminar/VAR Course, which is being held in Tashkent from January 20th to 24th. It is worth noting that the referee seminar, which is taking place at the Khusma Hotel in Tashkent, is attended by 23 referees and 2 observers from CAFA member countries. This was reported by the Football Federation of Turkmenistan.

Two Turkmen referees, Resul Mamedov and Arslan Goshshanov, are participating in the seminar. The seminar focused on the changes made by FIFA to the regulations for football competitions, as well as to the VAR system, which will be adopted by CAFA in 2025.

Training and seminars of this kind are very important for referees, as football is constantly evolving, and the rules of the game are periodically updated and modified by the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA). Familiarization with the latest changes in the rules and trends in refereeing helps referees maintain a high level of professionalism and ensure fairness and objectivity during matches.

It should be noted that the participation of Turkmen referees in the CAFA seminar contributes not only to their personal professional growth, but also to the overall development of football in Turkmenistan.

For further context, the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) is a subdivision and association within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It unites the football federations of Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized a new achievement: Swedes Emil Ulsson and Fredrik Nilsson, known as the Spin Duo, held the longest continuous table tennis tournament in a basement. It lasted 13 hours, 37 minutes, and 6 seconds, reports United Press International.

According to the established rules, the game must not be interrupted, which meant that snacks had to be eaten and numb hands had to be massaged while simultaneously hitting the ball. To prepare for the challenging tournament, the Spin Duo trained regularly for four months.

According to the newly minted record holders, the most difficult thing was to concentrate so that nothing distracted them and the ball was always in sight. Therefore, most of the game took place in complete silence, although Ulsson and Nilsson's relatives and friends were in the basement for 13 hours.

Eighteen clubs secured their participation in the Champions League playoffs one round before the end of the main stage. The teams ranked from first to eighth will advance directly to the 1/8 finals, and 16 more participants will play in the playoff playoff round, where the teams ranked from ninth to 16th will be seeded. The winners of this round will advance to the 1/8 finals, while the losers will continue the European season in the Europa League.

Before the eighth round, English Liverpool and Spanish Barcelona guaranteed themselves a direct ticket to the 1/8 finals, while English Arsenal and Italian Inter will at least be seeded in the playoff round. Milan, Atalanta, Juventus (all from Italy), Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Borussia (all from Germany), Monaco, Lille, Brest (all from France), and Atletico will also qualify for the playoffs, Real Madrid (both from Spain), Aston Villa (England), Feyenoord (Netherlands) and Celtic (Scotland).

Nine clubs lost their chances for the playoffs and the continuation of the European Cup season: Sturm, Salzburg (both Austria), Bologna (Italy), Sparta (Czech Republic), Leipzig (Germany), Girona (Spain), Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), Slovan (Slovakia) and Young Boys (Switzerland).

All 18 matches of the eighth and final round of the general stage of the Champions League will be held on the night of January 29-30 and will begin simultaneously at 01:00 Ashgabat time.

The Football Association of Uzbekistan (FAA) has announced the early termination of the contract with the head coach of the national team, Srechko Katanets. The Slovenian specialist decided to leave his post for health reasons, stating that in his current condition he could not fully perform his professional duties.

Katanets took over the Uzbek national team in August 2021, signing a four-year contract. Under his leadership, the team successfully competed in the 2026 World Cup qualifying tournament, where it currently ranks second in Group A, scoring 13 points and second only to the Iranian national team.

During the work of the Slovenian specialist, the national team of Uzbekistan played three matches against Turkmenistan, winning in all meetings. Two of them were won in the 2026 World Cup qualification with the same score 3:1, and another one with the score 2:0 in the CAFA Nation's Cup tournament.

The FAA has already started searching for a new head coach for the national team. The future mentor will face an important task – to continue the fight to reach the final of the 2026 World Cup, where the top two teams from each of the three Asian qualification groups directly qualify.