With a World Cup winner at the helm in Fabio Cannavaro, the White Wolves make their tournament debut
This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June.
It has been quite a journey. When Srecko Katanec took charge of Uzbekistan in 2021 he introduced an effective 3-4-3 system and his successors, Timur Kapadze and now Fabio Cannavaro, have stuck with it.
The first round of qualification was straightforward. In a four-team group they saw off Turkmenistan and Hong Kong and held Iran to two draws. The second round was favourable, too. Uzbekistan avoided being drawn against giants such as Japan, South Korea and Australia, and their away games were relatively nearby. Their away fixture against North Korea was played in Laos, with the Uzbekistan team arriving by chartered flight. Across both rounds of qualification, the White Wolves lost just one of their 16 games, a 3-2 defeat in Qatar. All four games against Iran, one of Asia’s heavyweights, ended in draws. Utkir Yusupov, Uzbekistan’s No 1 goalkeeper, made a particularly significant contribution to the side’s historic qualification, saving penalties in the two matches against North Korea.
