It makes sense for RPL clubs to take a closer look at inexpensive but high-quality players from Tajikistan.
The Tajikistan national team sensationally made it to the quarterfinals at its debut Asian Cup. In a dramatic game of the 1/8 finals, Petr Segrt’s team beat the UAE team on penalties, creating the main sensation of the tournament so far.
There is also a Russian contribution to the historical success of the modest team, which occupies only 106th place in the FIFA rankings. Several players from the Tajik team managed to play in Russia, and a former representative of the RFU helped create the Tajik football development program.
Historical success
Over the previous 30 years, the team with the loud nickname “Persian Lions” had never qualified for the main Asian tournament. Everything changed in 2022 with the arrival of an eccentric trainer with the appearance of a mad scientist from a Hollywood movie. Petr Segrt is a real extreme football fan who takes up working with underground teams. Before that, he coached teams in Afghanistan and the Maldives, and even earlier he was brought to Indonesia.
Under the leadership of the 57-year-old Croatian, the Tajikistan team did not concede a single goal in the final qualifying stage, finishing in first place in a group with Kyrgyzstan, Singapore and Myanmar. The very act of reaching the final stage was already considered a great success, but the miracles did not end there. In the fall of 2022, the Russian national team could not do anything with this opponent on his field (0:0), and now the strength of a modest team was able to demonstrate at a major tournament.
At the Asian Cup in Qatar, Tajikistan’s group opponents, in addition to the hosts of the tournament, were China and Lebanon. The outcome in the fight for reaching the playoffs was as unexpected as possible. Segrt’s team approached the last round game against Lebanon with one point in their asset, and by the 80th minute they were losing the score 0:1. They managed to turn the game around at the very end thanks to two beautiful goals. First, Umarbaev put the ball on target from a free kick, and in added time, Hamrokullov’s beautiful header brought his team a ticket to the 1/8 finals.
A regular participant in the Asian Cup, the UAE team led by the famous Portuguese Paulo Bento was considered the undisputed favorite, but Tajikistan looked even more preferable in terms of their game. The underdog created more chances and took the lead until the fifth minute of added time, but still failed to cope with the final assault. In such a situation, an inexperienced team could have floated and crumbled in extra time, but nothing of the kind happened.
In the penalty shootout, the decisive save was made by a native of Nizhny Novgorod, Rustam Yatimov, who was in the Volga system before leaving for his historical homeland six years ago. Immediately after the final whistle, the atmosphere on the streets of Dushanbe was reminiscent of the one that reigned in Russian cities during Euro 2008 and the 2018 World Cup. Sounding cars and fans carrying national flags underscored the historic moment.
Tajikistan’s fairy tale may continue on February 2, when the quarter-finals will take place with the winner of the Iraq-Jordan pair. Both potential opponents do not look invincible at all.
Connection with Russia
The Tajikistan national team’s roster includes only one foreign player from Russia – 20-year-old midfielder Ruslan Khailoev, born in Tver. He started his football career at FC Tver, and at the age of 18 he ended up at the Zenit academy. He played for a couple of seasons for the second team of the “blue-white-sky blues”, and last year he moved to Tyumen. At the Asian Cup, however, Khayloev mostly sits on the bench: his playing time is still limited to a few minutes in the game with Lebanon.
Several other players have ties to Russian football. National team captain Alisher Jalilov studied at the Lokomotiv academy from the age of 16, then his career included Rubin, Neftekhimik and Baltika. Midfield leader Umarbaev also managed to go through the Rubin system. In general, Kazan often invited players from Tajikistan over the years. The latest example is striker Shahron Samiev, who appeared in Rubin’s second team in 2020.
Football ties between Russia and Tajikistan have been strong for many years. For example, the current coach of Rubin, Rashid Rakhimov, managed to play for both teams in the 90s. And another native of Dushanbe, Igor Cherevchenko, until recently coached the country’s main team “Istiklol”, with which he became the champion of Tajikistan last year. Most of the players on the current team are well known to him from working at the club.
The progress of the Tajikistan national team was not possible without global changes in the training of young players. Several years ago, the country adopted a program, to the creation of which Alisher Aminov, a former member of the RFU executive committee and the development committee, had a hand. In 2022, in an interview with Match TV, he spoke in detail about changes in the approach on the part of the leaders of the local football federation.
— In four months, I managed to create a program for the comprehensive development of football in Tajikistan, which I presented to the leadership of the federation. The program is set out on more than 100 pages and is based on the successful experience not only of such developed countries as Germany and France, but also on the specifics of football in post-Soviet countries, primarily Russia, and specifically the Central Asian region.
If in Russia for 17 years the RFU has not been able to implement the creation of a single national football center for training national teams, then in Tajikistan such a center is about to appear,” Aminov noted.
Potential treasure for RPL clubs
Of all the participants in the Asian Cup playoffs, the Tajikistan team has one of the most modest squads. In terms of overall cost, it ranks second to last, which does not at all correlate with the level of play of the team of the eccentric coach.
Goalkeeper of the Tajikistan national team Rustam Yatimov / Photo: ©
Etsuo Hara / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ruSuch tournaments are always a huge fair, attended by hundreds of scouts and selectors from various clubs. It definitely makes sense for RPL representatives to pay attention to several players of the Tajikistan national team, whose transfer price will pleasantly surprise potential buyers. For example, the 25-year-old goalkeeper Yatimov, whom Rostov once paid attention to.
— I could have moved to Rostov at the end of 2019, Kafanov called me, they wanted to look at me, but I broke my finger. “I want to play in Russia,” Yatimov noted several years ago.
A year ago, Rostov again returned to the candidacy of this goalkeeper and tried to negotiate with Istiklol on a lease with an option to buy. After a strong performance at the Asian Cup, we should expect new offers for the player, whose value before the tournament was estimated to be higher than anyone else in the team – 900 thousand euros.
In addition, the figures of the central defenders look interesting: 25-year-old Zair Juraboev and 23-year-old Vahdat Khanonov. Judging by the level of their play at the tournament in Qatar, both may well be of interest to teams from the second eight of the RPL. The example of Uzbekistan national team player Abbosbek Faizullayev hints that real diamonds can be found on the Central Asian market. In this regard, it is worth taking a closer look at the 21-year-old players in the attack group of the Tajikistan national team: Alisher Shukurov and Amadoni Kamolov.
