2025 CAFA Nations Cup

2025 CAFA Nations Cup
Tournament details
Host countries	Tajikistan; Uzbekistan
Dates	29 August – 8 September
Teams	8 (from 3 sub-confederations)
Venue	3 (in 2 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Uzbekistan (1st title)
Runners-up	Iran
Third place	India
Fourth place	Oman
Tournament statistics
Matches played	14
Goals scored	36 (2.57 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Igor Sergeev; (3 goals)
Best player	Khojiakbar Alijonov
Best goalkeeper	Payam Niazmand
Fair play award	Tajikistan
	← 2023 2027 →

The 2025 CAFA Nations Cup was the second edition of the CAFA Nations Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of Central Asia organized by the Central Asian Football Association (CAFA). The event was held in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from August 29 to September 8. Iran were the defending champions.

The final took place on 8 September at the Olympic City Stadium in Tashkent, between hosts Uzbekistan and Iran. Uzbekistan won the match 1–0 to claim their first CAFA Nations Cup title.^[1]^[2]

Background

In April 2025, it was announced that the second edition of the CAFA Nations Cup would be held around September 2025, commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the CAFA organization.^[3]^[4]

In June 2025, it was confirmed the second edition would be co-hosted in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on 29 August to 8 September 2025 for the six member associations along with Malaysia and Oman as the guest teams.^[5]^[6]

On 15 July 2025, Malaysia announced their withdrawal from the competition, citing reasons including problems with logistics and players' availability.^[7]^[8] On 30 July 2025, India was announced as the guest team, replacing Malaysia in Group B.^[9]

Participating nations

Country	Appearance	Previous best performance	FIFA ranking (3 April 2025)
Afghanistan	2nd	Group stage (2023)	160
India^[a] (invitee)	1st	—	127
Iran	2nd	Winners (2023)	18
Kyrgyzstan	2nd	Fourth place (2023)	103
Oman (invitee)	2nd	Third place (2023)	77
Tajikistan (co-hosts)	2nd	Group stage (2023)	104
Turkmenistan	2nd	Group stage (2023)	142
Uzbekistan (co-hosts)	2nd	Runners-up (2023)	57

Seeding

The following eight teams were divided based on their FIFA Ranking of April 2025. Malaysia (131 ranked) was part of the 3 July draw but later withdrew on 15 July.

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
Iran (18) Uzbekistan (57) (co-hosts)	Kyrgyzstan (103) Tajikistan (104) (co-hosts)	Turkmenistan (142) Afghanistan (160)	Oman (77) (invitee) India^[a] (127) (invitee)

Draw results

The draw was held in Dushanbe on 3 July 2025 at 16:00 (UTC+5), and was broadcast live on YouTube. The draw resulted in the following groups with Malaysia included at the time of the draw, later being replaced by India:^[10]^[11]^[12]

Group A
Pos	Team
A1	Uzbekistan
A2	Kyrgyzstan
A3	Turkmenistan
A4	Oman

Group B
Pos	Team
B1	Tajikistan
B2	Iran
B3	Afghanistan
B4	India^[a]

^ ^a ^b ^c India replaced Malaysia in Group B after the latter's withdrawal.

Venues

Tajikistan
Hisor		Hisor 2025 CAFA Nations Cup (Tajikistan)
Hisor Central Stadium
Capacity: 20,000

Uzbekistan
Tashkent		Tashkent 2025 CAFA Nations Cup (Uzbekistan)
Olympic City Stadium	JAR Stadium
Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 8,500

Squads

Each team was required to register a preliminary squad of up to 35 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, from which the matchday squad could be selected on a match-by-match basis.^[8]

Officials

The following officials were chosen for the competition.
(†): Also performed as both in some matches.

Referees

Mooud Bonyadifard (†) (Iran)
Hasan Akrami (†) (Iran)
Vahid Kazemi (†) (Iran)
Sanzhar Zhakypbekov (†) (Kyrgyzstan)
Zayniddin Alimov (†) (Kyrgyzstan)
Nurzatbek Abdıkadırov (†) (Kyrgyzstan)
Abdullo Davlatov (†) (Tajikistan)
Sajëçon Zajniddinov (Tajikistan)
Sadullo Gulmurodi (†) (Tajikistan)
Axrol Riskullayev (†) (Uzbekistan)
Firdavs Norsafarov (†) (Uzbekistan)
Ilgiz Tantashev (†) (Uzbekistan)

Assistant Referees, Fourth Officials & VAR Referees

Alireza Ildorom (Iran)
Farhad Moravveji (Iran)
Ali Reza Moradi (Iran)
Eldos Murzabekov (Kyrgyzstan)
Kanat Mırsabekov (Kyrgyzstan)
Nuraalı Abdunabiev (Kyrgyzstan)
Ismoil Nuraliev (Tajikistan)
Farhod Kuralov (Tajikistan)
Amirçon Horkašev (Tajikistan)
Vafo Karaev (Tajikistan)
Hasan Karimov (Tajikistan)
Andrey Sapenko (Uzbekistan)
Alisher Usmanov (Uzbekistan)
Bakhtiyorkhuja Shavkatov (Uzbekistan)

Group stage

All times are local, Uzbekistan & Tajikistan Time (UTC+5).

Tiebreaker

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.

Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
Goal difference in all group matches;
Goals scored in all group matches;
Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
Drawing of lots.

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Uzbekistan (H)	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Advance to final
2	Oman	3	2	1	0	5	3	+2	7	Advance to third place match
3	Turkmenistan	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	1
4	Kyrgyzstan	3	0	1	2	2	7	−5	1

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Hosts

30 August 2025