Football in Tajikistan
Football is the most popular sport in Tajikistan, a country that gained independence in 1991.[1] The national association regularly takes part in competitions organised by FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation at senior and youth level. However, the country has not yet enjoyed any real success. While funds are limited, costs for travel and accommodation for international matches are prohibitively high. It is therefore extremely difficult for the national teams to gain experience, apart from in official competitions.[2]
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History of football in Tajikistan
Soviet period
Football in Tajikistan started to develop in the 20's. Tajikistan National Football Federation was established in 1936. In 1937 the first championship[3] of the Tajik SSR(i.e. Tajik League) was held, which composed of over 20 teams. Dynamo Stalinabad became the first champion, while Spartak Stalinabad came second and Dinamo Kirovabad came third. In the same year, Dynamo Stalinabad made her debut in the USSR Cup, where defeated Spartak Tashkent 2-1, however lost to Lokomotiv Baku 5-0. Dynamo Stalinabad squad that year was as follow: D. Mansurov, G. Rebrov, V. Kashirskii, V. Goldobin, S. Kostyukhin, R. Doltabaev, A. Koryukin, K. Pogorelov, AV Smolin, P. Babich, S. Hodak, H. Dontsov, M. Gazizov, A. Timofeev, B. Garritsky.
In 1938 saw establishment of the first Tajik Cup, where Dynamo Stalinabad defeated Spartak Leninabad 4-0 in the final. In 1947 Dynamo for the first time in the history of the Tajik Football was represented in the national championship. Dynamo played in the Central Asian zone group three times, along with Spartak Tashkent, ODL Tashkent, Lokomotiv Ashgabat, a team from Frunze and a team from Alma-Ata. As a result, the Dynamo has gained 25 points and was the winner of the tournament. In September, the winners of the six zonal tournaments left for Moscow to identify the club, which in 1948 will have to play in the first group of the USSR championship. Unfortunately, players of Tajikistan took only 5th place. That's who played in the first republic to the national championship: B. Boyko, G. Titov, N. Meshcheryakov, A. Sokolov, F. Rukavishnikov, K. Zakharov, M. Meekin, E. Kuzmin, V. Leichenko, K. Pogorelov, AP Babich, B. Fomichev, Yu Piskunyan, N. Emelianov.
The only football club from Tajik SSR that played in USSR Top League was SKA-Pamir Dushanbe, where they played three consecutive seasons from 1989 to 1991.
Between 1974 and 1992, several Tajikistani footballers had been members of USSR national football team and CIS national football team:
| Name | Position | Team | Caps(Goals) | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sergei Nikulin | Defender |  USSR |
3(0) | 1974-1979 |
| Edgar Gess | Midfield | USSR |
1(0) | 1979 |
| Oleg Shirinbekov | Defender | USSR |
3(0) | 1988 |
| Oleksiy Cherednyk | Midfield | USSR |
2(0) | 1989 |
| Sergey Mandreko | Midfield |  CIS |
4(0) | 1992 |
Since independence
Following the civil war, Tajik League and Tajik Cup resumed in 1992. In 1994, Tajikistan National Football Federation was reestablished.
Tajikistan national football team success came in 1993, when it came third in ECO Cup, also performed well in the 1998 Asian Games where reached the second round. However, the greatest performance was champions of 2006 AFC Challenge Cup. Performance in subsequent appearances in Challenge Cup were also satisfactory, runner-up of 2008 AFC Challenge Cup and third place 2010 AFC Challenge Cup.
At youth level, Tajikistan national under-17 football team won bronze at AFC U-17 Championship 2006 and the following year reached round-of-16 at 2007 FIFA U-17 World Championship.
Since its foundation in 2005, Tajik football teams have won or at least reached the final in AFC President's Cup apart from 2007.
