Uzbekistan was once part of the Soviet Union, and did not compete in world sport under its own name until the 1990s. Its National Olympic Committee was formed in 1992 and recognised by the IOC in 1993, and the country made its Olympic debut as an independent nation at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, followed by its first Summer Games at Atlanta in 1996.

Traditionally, Uzbekistan is a country of wrestlers and horsemen. Its national sport is kurash, an upright jacket-wrestling style fought in a yakhtak jacket and belbog belt. Contestants must stay on their feet. There is no groundwork, no striking and no gripping below the belt. The aim is to throw the opponent cleanly onto the back for halal, the full-point score.

Modern kurash was codified by Komil Yusupov, who added weight divisions, referee signals and a fixed bout length, and the International Kurash Association was founded in Tashkent in 1998. Kurash was recognised by the Olympic Council of Asia in 2003 and became a full Asian Games sport at Jakarta in 2018, where Uzbekistan promptly dominated it.

The horsemanship shows itself in kupkari (also called ulak), the Central Asian game in which riders on stocky Karabair horses fight to carry a goat carcass to a scoring circle. It is staged at weddings and celebrations in spring and autumn, especially around Navruz, with cash, appliances and sometimes cars as prizes.

Football is the most popular sport in the country. In June 2025 Uzbekistan qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in its history, becoming the first Central Asian nation to reach the finals, and played at the 2026 tournament in North America under the Italian coach Fabio Cannavaro. It was a hard introduction: drawn in Group K, they lost 3–1 to Colombia, 5–0 to Portugal and 3–1 to DR Congo, finishing bottom of the group. Abbosbek Fayzullaev’s goal against Colombia was the country’s first ever at a World Cup.

Domestically, the game is run through the 16-club Uzbekistan Super League. Pakhtakor Tashkent are the record champions with 16 titles and a record 14 cups, though Neftchi Fergana took the 2025 championship and Nasaf Qarshi won their first in 2024. Nasaf also gave Uzbek club football its only continental trophy, winning the AFC Cup in 2011. Berador Abduraimov, who scored 131 goals in 358 games for Pakhtakor, was joint top scorer of the Soviet Top League in 1968, and Server Djeparov — twice AFC Player of the Year, in 2008 and 2011, and Uzbekistan’s most-capped player with 128 appearances, is now a coach.

The current generation is led by Eldor Shomurodov, the national team’s all-time leading scorer, and by defender Abdukodir Khusanov, who joined Manchester City in January 2025 to become the first Uzbek to play in the Premier League.

At the Olympic Games, boxing is the sport that defines Uzbekistan. It has produced 20 of the country’s 49 Summer Olympic medals and 10 of its 18 golds, and at Paris 2024 Uzbek boxers won five of the thirteen gold medals on offer to top the Olympic boxing table for the first time. Paris was comfortably the country’s best Games: 8 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze, 13th on the medal table, with further golds in judo, taekwondo and freestyle wrestling. The Paralympic team did even better, taking 26 medals and also finishing 13th.

Chess deserves a mention alongside the mat sports. Uzbekistan won the open section of the 2022 Chess Olympiad in Chennai with the youngest team ever to do so, took bronze in Budapest in 2024, and is hosting the 46th Chess Olympiad in Samarkand in September 2026 — the largest event the country has ever staged.

Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Uzbekistan.

Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.

Popular sports of Uzbekistan

  • Football (Soccer), boxing, wrestling, judo, kurash, taekwondo, weightlifting, futsal, chess, tennis and traditional horse games

Traditional or Regional Sports

  • Kurash — the national upright wrestling style, contested in a jacket and belt with no groundwork, no striking and no holds below the belt. Scores run from chala (a flawed throw) through yonbosh (a throw onto the side) to halal, a clean throw onto the back that ends the bout. There are eight senior weight divisions for men and eight for women, and bouts are fought on a square mat of roughly 10 to 16 metres a side.
  • Belbogli kurash — a distinct Uzbek belt-wrestling form with its own national federation, recognised by United World Wrestling.
  • Kupkari (ulak) — the Uzbek version of the Central Asian horseback game in which riders compete to carry a goat carcass to a scoring circle. It is played mainly around Tashkent and Samarkand, in the Fergana Valley and in Surkhandarya.
  • Chavghon — a traditional mounted stick-and-ball game, one of a family of Uzbek horse games that also includes qiz quvish and the mass race olomon poyga.
  • Dorbozlik — traditional tightrope walking, performed without safety nets at heights of anything from four to fifty metres, with a national championship held in Tashkent and a long line of circus dynasties, the Tashkenbaevs foremost among them.
  • Turon, boyqurgan and other folk wrestling forms, along with games such as oshiq (knucklebones), all of which are covered by the National Association for Ethnosport, formed in 2020.

Uzbekistan Sporting Success

  • Uzbekistan won 13 medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics — 8 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze — to finish 13th on the medal table, comfortably its best Games.
  • Five of those golds came in boxing, from Hasanboy Dusmatov (51kg), Abdumalik Khalokov (57kg), Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev (71kg), Lazizbek Mullojonov (92kg) and Bakhodir Jalolov (+92kg) — the first time Uzbekistan has topped the Olympic boxing medal table.
  • Diyora Keldiyorova won the women’s judo −52kg in Paris to become the first Uzbek woman to win a Summer Olympic gold medal, and the country’s first Olympic judo champion.
  • Lina Cheryazova won the women’s aerials in freestyle skiing at Lillehammer in 1994, the first Olympic title awarded in the event and still the only Winter Olympic medal ever won by Uzbekistan.
  • Uzbekistan qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time on 5 June 2025, sealing a place at the 2026 finals with a goalless draw away to the United Arab Emirates and becoming the first Central Asian country to reach the tournament.
  • Uzbekistan won the open section of the 44th Chess Olympiad in Chennai in 2022, going unbeaten with the youngest team ever to take the title, and finished third at the 2024 Olympiad in Budapest.
  • Javokhir Sindarov won the FIDE World Cup in 2025 at 19, the youngest winner in the event’s history, then won the 2026 Candidates Tournament with a record score to earn a World Championship match.
  • Bakhodir Jalolov and Ulugbek Rashitov both won Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 and again at Paris 2024, in super heavyweight boxing and 68kg taekwondo respectively.
  • Akbar Djuraev won the 109kg weightlifting title at Tokyo 2020, took silver in Paris, and at the 2025 World Championships in Norway won three golds and set two world records.
  • Nasaf Qarshi won the AFC Cup in 2011, beating Kuwait SC 2–1 at home in Qarshi — still the only continental trophy won by an Uzbek club.
  • Uzbekistan finished 5th at the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou with 71 medals, equalling its best ever placing, and has won more than 400 Asian Games medals in all.
  • Uzbekistan won 26 medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, 10 of them gold, to finish 13th — its best ever Paralympic result, with 16 of the medals coming in para athletics.

Great athletes from Uzbekistan

  • Bakhodir Jalolov (boxing) — double Olympic super heavyweight champion in 2020 and 2024, twice a world champion, and unbeaten as a professional.
  • Hasanboy Dusmatov (boxing) — Olympic champion in 2016 and 2024, and winner of the Val Barker Trophy as the outstanding male boxer of the Rio Games.
  • Ulugbek Rashitov (taekwondo) — double Olympic champion at 68kg in 2020 and 2024.
  • Diyora Keldiyorova (judo) — Olympic champion at −52kg in 2024 and a two-time world silver medallist.
  • Rishod Sobirov (judo) — Olympic bronze medallist at three consecutive Games, in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
  • Akbar Djuraev (weightlifting) — Olympic champion in 2021, three-time world champion and a world record holder.
  • Ruslan Nurudinov (weightlifting) — Olympic champion at 105kg in 2016.
  • Razambek Zhamalov (wrestling) — Olympic freestyle champion at 74kg in 2024.
  • Lina Cheryazova (freestyle skiing) — Olympic aerials champion in 1994 and the only Uzbek athlete ever to win a Winter Olympic medal. A training crash later that year fractured her skull and effectively ended her career; she died in 2019.
  • Oksana Chusovitina (gymnastics) — competed at eight Olympic Games between 1992 and 2020, more than any other gymnast in history, representing the Unified Team, Uzbekistan and Germany at various points, and was still competing in her fifties.
  • Artur Taymazov (wrestling) — freestyle heavyweight who won silver at Sydney in 2000 and gold at Athens in 2004. He originally also won gold in 2008 and 2012, but both were annulled after stored samples were retested and found positive for anabolic steroids.
  • Javokhir Sindarov (chess) — a grandmaster at 12, winner of the 2025 FIDE World Cup and the 2026 Candidates Tournament, and challenger for the World Chess Championship.
  • Nodirbek Abdusattorov (chess) — World Rapid Champion in 2021 at 17, the youngest ever, and a fixture in the world’s top ten.
  • Rustam Kasimdzhanov (chess) — FIDE World Champion in 2004 and now captain of the national team.
  • Server Djeparov (football) — twice AFC Player of the Year, in 2008 and 2011, and Uzbekistan’s most-capped player with 128 appearances.
  • Eldor Shomurodov (football) — the national team’s captain and record scorer, and the first Uzbek to win a major UEFA club trophy.
  • Abdukodir Khusanov (football) — defender who joined Manchester City in 2025, the first Uzbek player in the Premier League.
  • Djamolidine Abdoujaparov (cycling) — the “Tashkent Terror”, who won the Tour de France points classification three times, in 1991, 1993 and 1994, along with the points title at both the Giro and the Vuelta.
  • Denis Istomin (tennis) — reached world number 33 and beat the defending champion Novak Djokovic at the 2017 Australian Open as a wildcard ranked outside the top 100.

Uzbekistan Sports trivia

  • Uzbekistan’s only Winter Olympic medal was won at the very first Games it entered as an independent country, when Lina Cheryazova took the aerials title at Lillehammer in 1994. No Uzbek athlete has medalled at a Winter Games since.
  • Artur Taymazov is one of only two Olympians ever to be stripped of gold medals from more than one Games. The wrestler Soslan Tigiev, also of Uzbekistan, lost both of his Olympic medals to retested samples.
  • Oksana Chusovitina’s Olympic team gold in 1992 was won for the Unified Team and her 2008 vault silver for Germany, so neither appears in Uzbekistan’s medal table.
  • Uzbekistan finished 13th at both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024, winning twice as many Paralympic medals as Olympic ones.
  • Paris 2024 gold medallists received US$200,000, a car and a two-storey house from the state, with graded rewards for silver and bronze and separate payments for coaches.
  • The Uzbek government spent around US$50 million over three years preparing for Paris 2024, working out at roughly US$4 million per medal won.
  • Abbosbek Fayzullaev scored Uzbekistan’s first ever World Cup goal, against Colombia at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on 17 June 2026.
  • Every match of the Uzbekistan Super League counts towards a competition that has been won by only eight different clubs in 34 seasons, with Pakhtakor accounting for almost half the titles.
  • The International Kurash Association has been based in Tashkent since it was founded in 1998, and Uzbekistan has won more than half of all the kurash gold medals awarded at the Asian Games.
  • Uzbekistan was originally due to host the 2025 Asian Youth Games but withdrew in December 2024 because the Olympic City complex in Tashkent would not be finished in time. The complex opened in August 2025, and Tashkent has since been awarded the 2029 edition.
  • Despite the country’s Olympic success, roughly 44% of Uzbeks do not take regular physical exercise, and government policy now runs under the slogan “Healthy Person, Healthy Nation”.
  • More than 1,770 neighbourhood sports grounds have been built across the country in the past nine years, alongside over 200 large sports facilities.

Uzbekistan at major events

  • Uzbekistan at the Summer Olympics — every Games since 1996, with 49 medals including 18 golds.
  • Uzbekistan at the Winter Olympics — every Games since 1994, with a single medal, the 1994 aerials gold. Two athletes competed at Milan-Cortina in 2026.
  • Uzbekistan at the Paralympic Games, where it finished 13th in Paris in 2024 with 26 medals.
  • Uzbekistan at the Asian Games, with more than 400 medals and a best finish of 5th, achieved in both 2018 and 2022. It is competing at the 2026 Games in Aichi-Nagoya.
  • Uzbekistan at the FIFA World Cup — a first appearance in 2026, and at the AFC Asian Cup, where its best finish is fourth, in 2011.
  • Uzbekistan at the Chess Olympiad, winning the open section in 2022 and taking bronze in 2024.

Past sporting events hosted in Uzbekistan

  • 2021 Weightlifting World Championships in Tashkent
  • 2021 World Sambo Championships in Tashkent
  • 2022 World Judo Championships at the Humo Arena, Tashkent
  • 2023 Men's World Boxing Championships in Tashkent, where the host nation topped the medal table with five golds
  • 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Samarkand
  • 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Tashkent, Bukhara and Andijan — the first FIFA tournament staged in Central Asia
  • 2026 World Taekwondo Junior Championships at the Olympic City in Tashkent, the largest edition in the event’s history
  • 2026 World Triathlon Championship Series opening round in Samarkand, the first WTCS event held in Central Asia

Upcoming sporting events in Uzbekistan

  • 46th Chess Olympiad, Samarkand, 15–28 September 2026 — the largest Olympiad ever held, with almost 400 teams, staged alongside the Chess Paralympiad and the FIDE Congress
  • World Aquatics Swimming World Cup, Tashkent, October 2026, at the new Aquatic Palace in the Olympic City
  • 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup, co-hosted with Azerbaijan — the first FIFA tournament shared between two confederations, with the new 55,000-seat stadium in Tashkent as the flagship venue
  • 2029 Asian Youth Games in Tashkent, centred on the Olympic City

Annual sporting events held in Uzbekistan

  • Tashkent Judo Grand Slam — an International Judo Federation World Tour event held at the Humo Arena, usually in late February or early March.
  • Uzbekistan Super League — the national football championship, 16 clubs playing from late February to November, supported by the Uzbekistan Cup and Super Cup.
  • UzChess Cup — an elite chess tournament held in Tashkent each June since 2024, with masters, challengers and futures sections.
  • Tashkent International Marathon — a World Athletics label road race founded in 2019, run each spring over marathon, half marathon and 10km distances, with a marathon relay.
  • Samarkand Marathon — an annual road race in the historic city.
  • Tashkent Grand Prix — an international track cycling meeting at the Olympic City velodrome.
  • ATP Challenger tournaments in Tashkent and Fergana. Tashkent also hosted a WTA tour event from 1999 until 2019.
  • National championships in boxing, kurash and belbogli kurash, and a national dorbozlik tightrope championship in Tashkent.
  • Kupkari — not a fixed event but a season, played mainly in spring and autumn and at its busiest around Navruz in late March.

Sporting Facilities in Uzbekistan

  • Milliy Stadion, Tashkent — the national stadium and the country’s largest at 34,000, opened in 2012 at a cost of around US$270 million and known as the Bunyodkor Stadium until 2018. Home to the national team and to FC Bunyodkor.
  • Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent — built in the mid-1950s and opened in 1956, originally holding 60,000 and now around 35,000 after successive renovations. Home of Pakhtakor, and the national team’s main ground until 2012.
  • Humo Arena, Tashkent — a 12,500-seat indoor arena opened in 2019, its roof shaped after the mythical Humo bird. It has staged the world judo and boxing championships and the futsal World Cup final, and hosts the annual judo Grand Slam.
  • Olympic City, Tashkent — a complex of about 100 hectares opened in August 2025 and billed as the largest sports facility in Central Asia, with a 12,000-seat athletics stadium, a velodrome, an aquatic palace, a team sports and martial arts hall, fifteen outdoor courts and the national training bases.
  • New Tashkent Stadium — a 55,000-seat ground under construction since November 2025 for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which will become the country’s largest.
  • Markaziy Stadium, Qarshi — a 21,000-capacity ground, home of Nasaf and the venue for the 2011 AFC Cup final.
  • Markaziy Stadium, Namangan — home of Navbahor, holding about 22,000 and used by the national team since 2018.