Odil Ahmedov

Odil Ahmedov is an Uzbek footballer, a midfielder and former captain of the Uzbekistan national team. He was born on 25 November 1987 in Namangan; his father Alimjon Ahmedov was also a footballer. As a youth he trained in the academies of Navbahor and Lokomotiv Tashkent before joining Paxtakor's reserve side.

He played for Paxtakor's first team from 2006 to 2011, winning the Uzbek league in 2006 and 2007, the Uzbek Cup in 2006, 2007 and 2009 and the CIS Cup in 2007, and finishing second in the league in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

In 2011 he moved to Russia's Anzhi Makhachkala, first on loan and then permanently, and stayed until 2014; he won bronze in the 2012–13 Russian Premier League and was named the club's player of the year in 2011. From 2014 to 2017 he played for Krasnodar, reaching the Russian Cup final (2013–14 season, per Wikipedia), taking league bronze in 2014–15 and being named the club's player of that season.

In 2017 he moved to China and with Shanghai SIPG won the Chinese Super League in 2018; he was loaned to Tianjin TEDA in 2020 and played for Cangzhou Mighty Lions in 2021. On 18 December 2021 he announced his retirement at the launch of his book «Odil Axmedov: Orzuning shonli yoʻli».

For Uzbekistan he played from 2007 to 2021, winning 108 caps and scoring 21 goals. His first goal came on 6 February 2008 against Lebanon in 2010 World Cup qualifying, and he made his 100th appearance on 10 October 2019 against Yemen. He captained the team at the 2019 Asian Cup and ended his international career in June 2021. He has been named Uzbekistan's footballer of the year several times (including 2009, 2011 and 2014) and in 2020 received the title of Honoured Sportsman of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

After his playing career he moved into football administration: on 25 December 2021 he was elected a vice-president of the Uzbekistan Football Association, and on 26 May 2022 he joined the executive committee of the Uzbekistan Professional Football League. Media reported in January 2026 that he remained a vice-president after the association's congress.