Kick-Starting a New Era: Uzbekistan’s Dastlik Stadium Complex Gets a Game-Changing Upgrade

The future of football development in Uzbekistan has been given a major boost by the construction of floodlights at the Dastlik Stadium in Tashkent, which has completed the third phase of upgrades to the national training centre.

Since the establishment of the Football Federation of Uzbekistan in 1993, the Football Federation of Uzbekistan has not had its own training ground, which has limited the country’s ability to serve the country’s football stakeholders and adequately prepare the national team for competition.

The Uzbekistan Football Federation is able to provide an international standard facility that supports all aspects of football in Uzbekistan and promotes football at the national and regional levels.

With the help of FIFA Forward Program – which provides funding for football projects tailored to FIFA’s 211 member associations – has enabled the Uzbekistan Football Federation to make steady improvements to the facility which can now serve the wider football community.

Sanjivan Balasingham, director of FIFA member organizations in Asia and Oceania, said: “One of the most important pillars of infrastructure football development is the floodlighting project completed at the Dastlik NTC Main Stadium, which will enable the Uzbekistan Football Federation to host international and domestic professional matches at the stadium.” “The light quality allows matches to be broadcast with the highest possible resolution and the Uzbekistan Football Federation can now schedule matches for players, officials and fans to avoid the summer heat. Another successful project is a long-term friend and partner from the AFC, which we hope will have more projects coming.”

The installation of floodlights at Dustlik Stadium was the third stage of the development of the National Training Center of Uzbekistan. The project started with the construction of three stadiums equipped with floodlights, and continued with the renovation of the main stadium buildings and stands, and the project was completed after the installation of floodlights for the main stadium. The now renovated Dastlik Stadium will serve as the headquarters of the Uzbekistan national team, will be the main stadium for women’s national team matches, will be used for the education of referees and coaches, and will be available for use by clubs.

With the completion of installation of floodlights in October 2024, the stadium is already ready to host local night football matches and ready to host international matches. This upgrade means that the Uzbekistan Football Federation now has a stadium that meets the requirements for hosting AFC and Central Asian Football Confederation tournaments.

“On behalf of the Football Federation of Uzbekistan and the Uzbek football community, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your valuable support in the implementation of the floodlight project at the Dastlik NTC Stadium,” said Ravshan Ermatov, First Vice President of the Uzbek Football Federation. “We appreciate FIFA’s continued support and strong partnership.”

He added: “With the completion of this project, we now have invaluable infrastructure including four properly lit stadiums, which will greatly help us prepare all the national teams for the upcoming tournaments. Thank you again for your support and dedication! “