Fabio Cannavaro Takes Charge of Uzbekistan After First World Cup Berth
Fabio Cannavaro took over Uzbekistan in October 2025, months after the team had already secured its first men’s World Cup place. The move puts a 2006 World Cup winner and Ballon d’Or recipient in charge of one of four national teams making their tournament debut.
Uzbekistan’s June breakthrough
Uzbekistan qualified in June 2025 by finishing second behind Iran in the third phase of Asian qualifying. That result made it the first country from Central Asia to reach a men’s World Cup, a milestone built on a campaign that delivered before Cannavaro ever entered the dugout.
The qualification also came in a tournament that has expanded from 32 squads to 48, opening more places across the field. Uzbekistan still had to earn its spot in Asia, and it did that by finishing above every team except Iran in the final stage named in the facts here.
Kapadze, Katanec and the handover
Timur Kapadze had been coaching Uzbekistan for some months before Cannavaro’s appointment, after Srečko Katanec resigned in January 2025 for health reasons. Kapadze stayed involved after being dismissed and continued to collaborate with Cannavaro, so the new coach inherited a setup that had already carried the team through qualification rather than starting from zero.
That sequence matters because Cannavaro was not brought in to rescue a failing campaign. Uzbekistan had already done the hard part. His task is different: taking over a team that has reached its first World Cup and making sure the jump from qualifying landmark to tournament standard does not expose the gap between debut status and established football powers.
Cannavaro’s path to Tashkent
Cannavaro’s coaching route ran through China and Saudi Arabia between 2014 and 2019, then Benevento, Udinese and Dinamo Zagabria between 2022 and 2025. He arrives with a playing résumé that includes the 2006 World Cup and the Ballon d’Or, but his Uzbekistan job is shaped more by timing than by trophies: the country had already qualified when he was chosen in October 2025.
Uzbekistan now faces the practical test of carrying a breakthrough into a first World Cup appearance with a new head coach in place. Eldor Shomurodov and Abdukodir Khusanov give the squad names familiar to readers tracking Uzbek players abroad, but the central fact remains the same — the country reached the tournament first, then changed the man in charge.
