Gianni Infantino has received Uzbekistan’s highest state honour for foreign citizens, the Order of Dustlik, for his personal contribution to the development and promotion of Uzbek football on the international stage. The FIFA President received the award during a meeting with the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, where the option to open a regional FIFA office for Central Asian countries in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, was also discussed.

“I was honoured to receive the highly prestigious Order of Friendship of Uzbekistan from President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, as he graciously hosted me in Tashkent to hold important discussions, including the possibility of opening a regional office in the city,” said the FIFA President.

“Having met President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in 2023, I was delighted to see that his love for football has only grown in the last two years. I thanked him as he deserves great credit for supporting football development in Uzbekistan. A first-ever FIFA World Cup qualification for the men's national team reflects brightly on his sporting leadership and attention to football.

“I am grateful to President Mirziyoyev for his time, hospitality, and for recognising my work in helping develop and promote Uzbek football on the international stage with the highest state award. I wish him and his country the very best at next year's FIFA World Cup, and all their sporting endeavours. FIFA will be by your side in all your efforts to make our sport a tool for young girls and boys to achieve their dreams.”

Uzbekistan became the first Central Asian country to stage a FIFA tournament with the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ last year. Alongside Uzbekistan’s Minister of Sports Adkham Ikramov, Mr Infantino toured the “Olympic City” complex in the capital, Tashkent, and said the freshly completed project, on which construction only started on 9 November 2022, put the country in a prime position to stage future FIFA tournaments.

The FIFA President referred to Uzbekistan as “a hot, hot candidate” to host FIFA tournaments in the future after visiting the sports complex. “It is state-of-the-art,” he said of the venue, which features a 12,000-capacity stadium as well as a velodrome, an aquatics centre and other facilities dedicated to a wide range of sports.

“It projects Uzbekistan in the elite, top countries in the world in terms of academies, in terms of technical centres, in terms of infrastructure at all levels. And I'm very, very proud for Uzbekistan to have such a jewel, which will shine not only in the country, but around not just Central Asia or Asia but all over the world. This is an incredible infrastructure.

“I have to congratulate everyone who was involved: the Uzbekistan Football Association, the government, the Minister of Sport, the President of the country. Everyone's contributed to make this an incredible, incredible spot which will transform football in Uzbekistan. Definitely Uzbekistan is a hot, hot candidate to host some FIFA youth World Cups. Everything is there – the passion for the game, the infrastructure is there.”

The development of football infrastructure in Uzbekistan has been matched by progress on the pitch. Teams qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup™ and the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ in 2023, and the latter side will travel to Qatar later this year to compete in their age category tournament again with high hopes after reaching the quarter-finals two years ago. Following a first Olympic Football Tournament participation at the Paris Games last year, the senior men’s national team will now participate in the FIFA World Cup 26™ after clinching their place at the global tournament for the very first time.

“The fact that Uzbekistan have qualified for the first time in history for a FIFA World Cup is obviously historic. It’s historic for the country. It’s a big country, it’s a country of 38 million people, but a country that loves football and it loves football from the first citizen of the country, from the President of the country,” added Mr Infantino.

“The team, the national team, is inspiring, is transforming, is uniting the whole country, and this is definitely priceless, and it has a big, big impact on society in Uzbekistan, but also on the world, which for the first time will get to know a beautiful country that maybe they didn't know before, which is called Uzbekistan.”

The FIFA President also saw the Uzbekistan team in action against IR Iran – another of Asia’s FIFA World Cup 26 representatives – in the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA) Nations Cup 2025 final, which was supported by FIFA, and played in the new Olympic Stadium at the end of a tournament co-hosted with Tajikistan.

Mr Infantino, who was accompanied on the visit by FIFA Chief Member Associations Officer Elkhan Mammadov, Senior Football Advisor Youri Djorkaeff and Lead Doha Office/FIFA Legend Houssine Kharja, met the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov, President of the Uzbekistan Football Association, Bakhodir Kurbanov, and CAFA representatives, including CAFA General Secretary Ulugbek Karimov, at the game, which the hosts won 1-0 after extra-time to lift the trophy for the first time.