The secret of Uzbekistan football: genetic screening

Khusanov is a bright superstar of Uzbekistan football - Photo: REUTERS

Uzbekistan is strong in all subjects.

In football alone, Uzbekistan has made the whole of Asia take its hat off. This Central Asian country has no tradition in the 11-a-side game, but has suddenly made a strong breakthrough in the past few years.

At the national team level, Uzbekistan is close to a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. They only need to win one more match in the third qualifying round to get a ticket one round early.

At youth level, Uzbekistan have produced a remarkable run of titles across all age groups. In 2018, they won the AFC U23 Championship, before reaching the final of the tournament twice more in 2022 and 2024.

In 2023, Uzbekistan won the U20 Asian Championship again. And most recently, their U17 team caused a stir when they defeated Saudi Arabia in a 9-11 match (2 players received red cards) in the final match of the 2025 U17 Asian Championship held on the night of April 20.

The result of developing youth football in the right direction is the blossoming of talent. The current Uzbekistan team has a series of stars playing in Europe, from Shomurodov (AS Roma) to Khusanov (Man CIty), Fayzullaev (CSKA Moscow)...

Last January, Man City surprised the football world when they spent 40 million euros to bring in Khusanov - a 21-year-old Uzbekistan defender.

Not only football, Uzbekistan also develops strongly in Olympic sports. At Paris 2024, this Central Asian country achieved the best result in history when winning 8 gold medals, thereby climbing to 13th place in the world.

Martial arts such as wrestling, boxing, taekwondo, and judo are Uzbekistan's forte, along with weightlifting. In just the past 10 years, Uzbekistan has risen from an average Asian sports nation to the top of the continent, behind only China, Japan, and South Korea.

The secret of genetic screening

So what is the secret to Uzbekistan's sporting success? The answer may lie in a genetic screening strategy they began about 12 years ago.

Rustam Mukhamedov, a scientist at Uzbekistan's Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, has been studying the genes of Uzbekistan's champion athletes.

Uzbekistan had an explosive Olympics, after more than a decade of implementing genetic screening - Photo: REUTERS

As a result, his team has nearly identified a set of 50 genes that predict they will become future Olympians.

From there, the Uzbekistan sports industry tests the DNA of children from 10 years old for the characteristics of these genes, then advises parents on the sport that is suitable for their children.

There has been much debate about the use of genetic screening technology in sports training. But it is strange that Uzbekistan has become the first country to use this method.

It was not until 2018 that China became the second country to follow Uzbekistan in the search for "good genes" for the sports world.

The Uzbek government has yet to share the specific results of Mukhamedov and his team’s genetic screening research. But the boom in Uzbek sports over the past six or seven years seems to be the answer.

Eleven years ago, Mr. Mukhamedov's research team claimed to have found suitable genes, thereby launching a "talent hunt" with the target being children aged 10-15.

As a result, Uzbekistan now has a lot of stars in the 20-26 age group, matching the time frame of 11 years ago. Khusanov (21) is one example. Most of their Olympic champions are also in this age group.

That success did not surprise the world sports community with the question - has Uzbekistan succeeded, when it became the first country to successfully screen genes for sports?

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bi-quyet-cua-bong-da-uzbekistan-sang-loc-gen-20250421001427237.htm