Sanzhar Tursunov

Sanzhar Atham ugli Tursunov was born on 29 December 1986 in Tashkent. He is an Uzbek midfielder who began in Pakhtakor's youth team and moved to Russia's Irtysh Omsk in 2006, making his debut on 23 April 2006 and scoring 13 goals in 86 second-division games up to the end of 2008.

In January 2009 he joined Volga Nizhny Novgorod. In 2010 the club finished second in the First Division and won promotion to the Premier League, and Tursunov was among the division's top assist providers (10). He made his Russian Premier League debut on 14 March 2011 against Tomsk, and on 31 December 2011 moved to Alania Vladikavkaz.

In February 2013 he signed for Lokomotiv Tashkent, played for Gazovik Orenburg from July 2013 and moved to Ukraine's Vorskla Poltava as a free agent in the winter of 2013/14. He left Vorskla in January 2016 after an offer from Qatar's Umm Salal and returned in August 2016. He later played in Uzbekistan, including for AGMK, which reached the Uzbekistan Cup final in 2020.

He debuted for Uzbekistan on 25 December 2010 against Bahrain and scored his first international goal on 15 November 2011 against Tajikistan. He played all six matches at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup (Uzbekistan finished fourth) and all four at the 2015 tournament. He was named Uzbekistan Footballer of the Year in 2012.