The youth team of Turkmenistan in football (up to 17 years) will meet with the Kyrgyz team in the match for the third place of the Championship of the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA).

The fight will take place on May 30 at the Tashkent stadium "Dustlik". The beginning of the match is at 21:00 in the Ashgabat time.

In the final of the tournament, the teams of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will play. In fifth place, the teams of Iran and Afghanistan will compete.

As part of the group stage of the CAFA tournament, the Turkmen team led by the head coach Ahmed Allaberdyev won Afghanistan with a score of 1: 0, and then lost to the Tajik team (1: 4).

The opponents of the Turkmenistan youth football team (players under 23) in the qualifying tournament for the 2026 Asian Cup have become known.

According to the results of the draw, the Turkmen football players will play in group “A”, their opponents will be the national teams of Jordan, Chinese Taipei and Bhutan.

All matches of the group stage of the qualifying tournament will be held in a centralized format on the territory of Jordan in the capital of the kingdom, Amman. The games are scheduled for the period from September 3 to 9, 2025.

According to the tournament regulations, the winners of all groups of the qualifying tournament, as well as the four best teams that took second place, will qualify for the final part of the 2026 Asian Cup, which will be held from January 7 to 25 in Saudi Arabia.

On May 27, a meeting was held in the building of the Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Herat Province between the Acting Minister of Sports of Afghanistan, Ahmadullah Wasek, and the Consul General of Turkmenistan in the city of Herat, Batyr Yolov.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current state of bilateral cooperation and prospects for its development, and exchanged views on issues of mutual interest. In addition, the negotiators considered future opportunities for developing cultural and humanitarian cooperation, as well as expanding relations in the sports sphere.

As reported to Turkmenportal by the consulate in Herat, the parties declared their readiness to ensure the participation of representatives of the two states in international sports events held in Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

Head coach of the Turkmenistan national football team Rovshan Meredov said that he is counting on the support of the fans ahead of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying match against Thailand.

"I understand all the responsibility that lies before me. Our task is not an easy one, to solve which we will make every effort," Meredov emphasized. He noted that his team has formed a professional staff of specialists with experience playing for the national team, who share the same views on football.

The coaching staff of the Turkmen team is currently watching all the matches of the national championship to select candidates for the team. After the completion of the last games before the break, an extended roster of the national team will be announced. From June 1, the team will begin a training camp in Ashgabat to prepare for the match with Thailand.

In parallel, specialists are studying the opponent's game, analyzing video recordings of the Thailand team's matches.

"The Thailand national team is a very organized team," noted Meredov, who studied the Thais' qualifying match with Sri Lanka. According to him, the Thai team is coached by a Japanese specialist who has instilled in the players competent combination football. Among the participants who did not qualify for the World Cup and are fighting for a ticket to the Asian Cup, the Thailand national team is one of the strongest, which is confirmed by its placement in the first basket during the draw.

The coach also drew attention to the strengthening of the Sri Lankan national team: "If before it was "for beating", now it has naturalized Europeans who play competent football."

"In the fight for a ticket to the 2027 Asian Cup, no one can be underestimated. There are no obvious outsiders in the group. Each game will be like the final," R. Meredov emphasized.

The meeting of the national teams of Turkmenistan and Thailand will be held on June 10 at the Ashgabat stadium. The start of the second round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying round is scheduled for 20:00.

To reach the final part of the tournament, which will be held in 2027 in Saudi Arabia, the Turkmen team needs to take first place in Group D, ahead of the national teams of Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka.

Rovshan Meredov replaced Mergen Orazov as head coach, under whose leadership the Turkmen team won an away victory over the Chinese Taipei team with a score of 2:1 in the first round of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying round.

Football club "Arkadag" took first place in the championship of Turkmenistan after beating Ashgabat "Altyn Asyr" with a score of 3:0 in the postponed match of the 3rd round.

The meeting took place in the Byuzmeyin etrap of the capital. Goals for "Arkadag" were scored by Arzuvguly Sapargulyev (9th minute), Yazklych Gurbanov (20) and Begench Akmammedov (30).

After this victory, "Arkadag" scored 27 points in 9 matches and led the tournament table of the Higher League. The team is three points ahead of "Ahal" in second place (24 points in 11 matches) and five points ahead of "Altyn Asyr", which occupies the third line (22 points in 11 matches). Vladimir Bayramov's team still has two games in reserve.

The Football Federation of Turkmenistan (FFT) and the Qatar Football Association signed an agreement aimed at developing bilateral cooperation. The signing ceremony took place in Doha, the FFT reports.

On the Turkmen side, the document was signed by the head of the FFT, Guvanchmukhammet Ovekov, and on the Qatari side, by the head of the association, Jassim bin Rashid Al-Buenain.

The event was also attended by the secretaries general of both federations: Serdar Geldiyev and Mansour Al-Ansari.

Technical Director of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan Rovshan Meredov has been appointed head coach of the country's national football team, the FFT reports.

The 53-year-old specialist has extensive experience as both a player and a coach. Meredov began his professional career in 1999 as part of Nebitchi, then played for Dagdan, Galkan, Akhal and Yedigen (MTTU - ed.).

After completing his playing career, Rovshan Meredov, who received a PRO coaching license, led the Ashgabat clubs Yedigen and Akhal from 2013 to 2020. Under his leadership, the teams won prizes in the national championship, and Akhal won the Turkmenistan Cup in 2017.

The most significant achievement in Meredov's coaching career was the victory of MTTU in the AFC President's Cup in 2014 (the predecessor of the AFC Challenge League - ed.)

The specialist also has experience working abroad - in 2020, he coached the Uzbek "Kyzylkum", in 2022 - "Kaganat" from Kyrgyzstan.

Since the beginning of 2025, Rovshan Meredov has held the position of head of the Technical Department of the Football Federation of Turkmenistan. In parallel, since 2020, he has been working as a FIFA technical expert in the department of global football development under the leadership of former head coach of London's Arsenal Arsene Wenger.

Meredov replaced Mergen Orazov, who led the national team since 2023.

On June 10, the Turkmenistan national team will host the Thailand team as part of the 2027 Asian Cup qualifying tournament. The game will take place at the Ashgabat stadium.

The Turkmenistan U-17 team will take part in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Championship, which will be held from May 24 to 31 in the capital of Uzbekistan.

The tournament will bring together six teams from the region: Afghanistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. According to the results of the draw, the Turkmen team got into Group B, where it will play with the national teams of Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

At the group stage, the teams will play matches in a round-robin system. The winners of the groups will reach the final, and the runners-up will play for bronze. There will also be a game for fifth place. All matches will be held at the Dustlik stadium in Tashkent.

Turkmenistan U-17 team match schedule:

• May 24, 17:30 – Turkmenistan – Afghanistan
• May 26, 20:30 – Tajikistan – Turkmenistan

The second module of the coaching courses for category "C" certificate applicants is underway in Ashgabat, the Football Federation of Turkmenistan reports.

The training is taking place at the capital's Kopetdag stadium with the participation of 20 students. The first module of the courses was held from April 25 to 29, the second is being held from May 19 to 23 of this year.

The classes are conducted by FIFA and the Football Federation of Turkmenistan (FFT) instructor Rovshen Meredov, and his assistants are football coaches Boris Borovik, Begench Garayev and Eziz Annamukhamedov.

The training program includes theoretical and practical classes. Upon completion of the courses, students will have to pass exams, the successful completion of which will allow them to receive category "C" coaching certificates. A certificate of this category gives the right to work with children's teams in the age group from 6 to 12 years.

Four wins, one loss, and second place – this is the result of the Turkmenistan national hockey team at the recently held World Championship in Turkiye, in Division III Group A – the sixth tier of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

The fight for the only promotion spot to the higher Division II Group B at the “Zeytinburnu” Arena in Istanbul involved the national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Kyrgyzstan, Turkiye, South Africa, and Turkmenistan.

The Turkmen hockey players started the tournament successfully. In the first round, they defeated Bosnia and Herzegovina 3:1 (1:1, 0:0, 2:0); in the second, they sensationally beat the hosts, Turkiye, 2:1 (1:1, 1:0, 0:0); and in the third, they inflicted a heavy defeat on Luxembourg 8:3 (1:1, 0:1, 7:1).

The fate of first place, contested by Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Turkiye, was decided in the last two rounds. In the penultimate round, our compatriots faced Kyrgyzstan, who had also achieved three victories, successively defeating South Africa 5:2 (2:1, 2:0, 1:1), Luxembourg 6:0 (0:0, 3:0, 3:0), and Bosnia and Herzegovina 5:1 (2:0, 1:0, 2:1).

Last year, the national teams of Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan already played each other at the World Championship in Bishkek. Then, the Kyrgyz team celebrated victory – 7:5 (2:1, 2:2, 3:2).

The second head-to-head encounter was also tough for the Turkmen hockey players, with Kyrgyzstan again prevailing – 8:1 (4:0, 3:1, 1:0). Pavel Barkovsky scored the only goal for Turkmenistan at a score of 0:6 in the 35th minute.

In the final round, our hockey players met the team from South Africa, whom they had already played three times at World Championships. In two matches, Turkmenistan had celebrated victory – 7:2 at the 2019 World Championship in Sofia and 4:3 at the 2024 World Championship in Bishkek. Only at the 2023 World Championship in Cape Town did South Africa succeed – 4:3.

The fourth head-to-head match with South Africa was a serious test for the Turkmen hockey players, who were losing 2:5 by the third period but managed to turn the game around, tying the score a second before the final siren and scoring the winning goal in overtime – 6:5. For Turkmenistan, double goals were scored by Baymyrat Baymyradov (1st and 14th minutes) and team captain Amangeldi Aganiyazov (44th and 60th). In regular time, Pavel Barkovsky (44th) also scored, and the winning overtime goal was credited to Kerven Bayliyev (62nd).

In the last match of the tournament, Kyrgyzstan narrowly defeated Turkiye 3:1 (1:0, 1:1, 1:0) and, taking first place with 15 points, achieved promotion – for the first time earning the right to play in Division II Group B at the 2026 World Championship.

Second place with 11 points went to the Turkmen hockey players, who received silver medals at the awards ceremony. The bronze for third place with 9 points went to the Turkish team. Notably, this team had been led for more than three years by Slovenian specialist Andrej Brodnik, who was dismissed after losses to Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

The Luxembourg team, finishing last with 3 points, was relegated to Division III Group B. Next year, they will be replaced in Division III Group A by the Mexican team, which won the recently concluded 2025 Division III Group B World Championship at home in Santiago de Querétaro, defeating Hong Kong 5:2, the Philippines 9:1, Singapore 18:1, Mongolia 7:6, and North Korea 9:2.

Last year, Turkmenistan finished 4th at the World Championship in Bishkek in Division III Group A. Now, our hockey team has climbed two steps higher. This achievement was led by head coach Ilyas Veliev, assisted by Guvanch Jepbarov.

Let us recall that 19 hockey players represented Turkmenistan at the World Championship in Istanbul: 12 from the “Galkan” club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 5 from “Shir” of the Ministry of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations, and one each from “Oguzhan” of the Turkmengaz State Concern and “Alp Arslan” of the Turkmenaragatnashyk Agency.

Athletes from Turkmenistan joined the 1st Open Central Asian Swimming Championship, which started on May 19 in Uzbekistan. According to the website uza.uz, the competition was organized jointly by the Water Sports Federation and the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan.

As part of the championship, representatives of five countries in the region - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - will compete in various swimming disciplines and distances for 158 sets of medals.

A total of 168 athletes from Central Asian countries are taking part in the competition, which will last until May 23. The championship is an important event for the development of water sports in the region and strengthening sports ties between the participating countries.

On May 16, a friendly football match between the Legends and Diplomats teams took place at the Molodaya Gvardiya sports and recreation camp as part of the Russia – Islamic World international forum (KazanForum). The match ended with a score of 7:4 in favor of the Legends team, the Rubin FC website reports. The Legends team included former Rubin FC players of different years, including Sergey Ryzhikov, Gokdeniz Karadeniz, Macbeth Sibaya, Alexander Bukharov, Andrey Fedorov, Rustem Khuzin, Andrey Knyazev, Evgeny Balyaikin, Dmitry Blagov and Ildar Minvaleev. They were also joined by the President of the Board of ANO FC Rubin Marat Safiullin, former players of the Russian national team and RFU ambassadors Alexander Mostovoy and Ruslan Nigmatullin, as well as bloggers from Egypt and Malaysia - Ahmed El Badawi and Chi Howe.

The Diplomats team was represented by employees of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with colleagues from various member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), including representatives of Bahrain, Belarus, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Iran, Morocco, Oman and Turkmenistan.

The match took place in a friendly atmosphere and became one of the cultural and sports events organized within the framework of KazanForum.