【Exclusive Interview】Compare the current situation of Chinese football! From international referee to vice-president Ilmatov's gorgeous turn

At the 41st edition of the U20 Asian Cup, which ended last week, hosts Uzbekistan beat Iraq 1-0 to win the Asian title in this age group for the first time in history, and the second continental title since winning the U23 Asian Cup in 2018. Taking the opportunity to follow the Chinese U20 national youth team to interview this tournament, the reporter conducted an exclusive interview with Lavshan Ilmatov, the first vice president of the Uzbek Football Association, before returning to China. From an internationally renowned referee to a national football leader, Irmatov also detailed a series of work in the construction of a national team after taking office, which is quite emotional compared to the current situation of Chinese football.

Ilmatov was interviewed by this reporter / Photo: Che Zhouyong

(1) Transformation from referee to manager

TITAN: First of all, congratulations to Uzbekistan for qualifying for the U20 World Cup in Indonesia, which is your second ticket to the World Junior Championship in 8 years, and the coach who led the team to the qualification twice was Heydarov. Irmatov: Thank you very much. Entering the World Youth Championship is not a lottery to win the lottery, but the result of hard work and hard work by everyone, from head coach Heydarov to all the players, including the organization and preparation of the Uzbek Football Association. You know, we have been preparing for this team for nearly 2 years, organized many training camps and overseas training, and participated in many invitational tournaments or mutual visit tournaments.

The U20 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan has given us a lot of young talented players a great opportunity to show themselves to the fullest and prepare them for the Under-23 national team and senior national team. On top of that, so many scouts from all over the world come to Uzbekistan to watch the matches, looking for talented players to bring them to their clubs, such as Japan, where a young player has been picked up by a Premier League club. This is a great opportunity for all young players to bring out the best in them in order to find a higher platform for their careers.

TITAN: Everyone knows that you used to be a great football referee and the most enforced World Cup referee, but you suddenly changed your status to vice president of the Football Association.

Irmatov: (laughs) yes, I can only say that in life you never know what's going to happen next. Frankly, I didn't anticipate such a change myself. But being a referee is also a kind of management, and I always find a way to manage things in the football stadium and make sure that the game goes smoothly. If you remember the games I officiated during my time as a referee, you know that I've been trying to do that and make football more spectacular. Now that I am the vice president of the Football Federation of Uzbekistan, I hope to make Uzbek football more attractive, more fun, better and, of course, more pure and fairer. This is my attitude now.

TITAN: The span between the two is a bit too big.

Irmatov: From management on the football field to management outside the football field, although the span is large, the internal principle is the same. And to manage well, you have to pay more. In fact, you can also see how busy I am now. The time we sit down now is an hour and a half later than we agreed, and I'm embarrassed to keep asking you to wait outside, but there is really no way. Every morning from the moment I stepped into the office, I haven't stopped to rest, there are so many things to deal with.

From the moment I accepted this job, I was mentally prepared to use my hard work to make new improvements in football in Uzbekistan every year. It's not easy, because there's so much pragmatism involved in managing football, so we have to put it into our work every day so that our people can see football developing and improving. Despite setbacks, such as the failure of the Uzbek national team to qualify for the round of 12 in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, we did not retreat, on the contrary, it became an impetus to accelerate development. At least until now, everything has been steadily developing according to the vision and plan, showing our love for football in the process.

TITAN: In Russia 2018, you became the most referee for the most World Cup matches. But since then you have faded out of the refereeing circle, in fact, if you choose to continue your career as a referee, you can still go to the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Do you regret this?

Irmatov: (laughs) When I was very young, I had a dream, or when I became a referee, I wanted to be able to play in the enforcement of the World Cup and be able to referee at least one game. But in the end, I played in three World Cups and set a record with 11 games, which should be an honor from God, and I am happy and proud, after all, there are not many people who have experienced it like me. And being a referee has helped and inspired me a lot in my current work, and I'm grateful for this experience. When asked if I could switch from professional referee to football management, I accepted.

As for whether I regret not being able to go to the World Cup in Qatar, I might hesitate if I don't have those 11-game records. And like you said, if I hadn't stopped in the field of refereeing, I'm confident that I would still have my name on the list of referees for the 2022 World Cup. But now I fully accept because I enjoy managing here, I am working for the development of the sport we love and have achieved some results. So, the transition from referee to vice president of the Football Association has a different meaning for me.

Ilmatov presented the award to the best goalkeeper, Ozbek's Boymuradov, at the U20 Asian Cup ceremony

(2) The U11 national team has been formed this year

TITAN: The national youth team entered the World Youth Championship again after 8 years, and you, as the first vice president of the Football Association, should have given the team the greatest support.

Irmatov: Yes, this is one of my jobs, because we are now systematically developing and building national teams at all levels. So far, the Uzbekistan Football Association has a total of 19 national teams, including indoor futsal national teams and women's national teams at all levels. And we now have teams in men's football at every age, from the national team to the U23 Olympic team and the U20 national youth team, and then the U19, U18, U17, U16, U15, U14, U13, U12 all the way to the U11. We have now completed such a system.

TITAN: The U11 have all started to form a national team?

Ilmatov: Yes, the U11 national team, the 2012 age team, was only selected and formed at the beginning of this year. Next year, my plan is to form national teams in the U10 and U9 age groups. Uzbekistan will host the fourth Asian Youth Olympic Games in 2025, and men's football is the focus of the Asian Youth Games, so we must form teams in advance. Moreover, we want to take this opportunity to further improve the construction of the national brand team and the entire system.

TITAN: Did all this start after you took over the Uzbekistan Football Association?

Irmatov: Yes, since I took full charge of the work of the Football Association in the second half of 2019, one of the first tasks I focused on was to improve the construction of national teams at all levels. It's not done yet, because as I said, the ultimate idea is to build teams from U9 to give young players a better platform and growth channel to make sure they can maximize their talents.

TITAN: Since becoming the first vice president of the Football Association, what are the specific pieces of work you have done? How far from what you envisioned when you first took office?

Ilmatov: There are three very important elements to the development of football, and the work I do revolves around these three elements. The first is infrastructure construction, that is, the construction of sites, lawns, etc. This time you come to cover the U20 Asian Cup, I believe you have been to various venues and training grounds, whether it is the JAR stadium, Ben Yudko stadium or Lokomotiv stadium, although it is not new, we have renovated all of them to host this tournament, and the playing venues in Fergana are quite beautiful. In addition to these venues, we are also gradually improving the construction of stadiums and upgrading the basic hardware facilities in other places.

The second is the establishment and improvement of the football academy. Without a football academy with good infrastructure and good turf, it is impossible to develop football and develop good players. That's why we've been building football academies all over the country. In addition, in Tashkent we are building a national football center. In this regard, the Government of Uzbekistan has given great support and the Football Association has worked closely with the Government, which is very important for us.

The third is the training of football coaches. So far, we haven't produced a lot of top coaches, and that's where we have to improve. I've been asked why Uzbekistan can't make it to the World Cup, and my answer is that we don't have 11 of the best, the best players in the same generation. The reason we can't have 11 top players at the same time is that we don't have a group of high-quality coaches with enough knowledge and experience. Maybe we have one or two, two or three very good coaches who can develop a couple of top players, but they can't produce 11 great players in the same generation at the same time.

That's why we pay so much attention to the development of football coaches today. After taking full responsibility, I specially set up the Uzbek Football Education Center. Of course, this center not only trains coaches, but also various football-related professionals such as referees, technical analysts, scouts, and football managers. At present, the Football Association has 19 national teams, and teams at all levels need high-quality, high-level coaches, including experts in various fields. Where did they come from? It is the problem that the football education center needs to focus on cultivating and solving. I think this work is currently fruitful, and all the initiatives are being carried out simultaneously, and the operation is smooth.

Irmatov is currently the first vice president of the Uzbek Football Association, fully responsible for daily work / Photo: Cha Zhouyong

(3) The true intention of the National Olympic Games

TITAN: In the construction of Uzbekistan's national team system, why did you establish the Olympic Club more than two years ago and form the Olympic team to participate in the domestic professional league? And the team has finished 6th since being promoted to the top flight last year and continues to play in the top flight this year.

Ilmatov: This is also the idea I put forward after I took over the work of the Football Association, which was approved and finally implemented after being reported to the Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan. First of all, we select players from clubs in the second and third divisions, because all the players of the Olympic club are under the age of 23, so the team chooses players in the U19, U20 and other age groups. The Olympic Club provides these talented players with a high-quality infrastructure, high-quality training and competitions to help them grow faster. These conditions cannot be enjoyed in the lower divisions, so the players are also willing to join the Olympic Club. The club uses very professional means and methods to develop young people, allowing them to accelerate the transition from junior to professional players. And through the practice of the past two or three years, such operations and operations have been very successful. The purpose of the Olympic Club is first and foremost to develop players, not to strive for high rankings and achievements, and the players who are trained can go to better clubs. The current manager of this team is Karpazer, I'm sure you should be familiar with him, he was a good midfielder who started working as a coach after retiring.

TITAN: The Olympic team plays in the top flight, and there is no opposition from other clubs? Because in China, when someone puts forward the same idea, many clubs are firmly opposed to it.

Irmatov: No, there are no objections. Because we made it clear from the beginning that the Olympic team does not call young players from top professional clubs, but from lower clubs. And if young players do well in the Olympic team, the top league clubs can also bring them in from the Olympic club to offer better contracts to the young players, which is a big reason why they support the program. The fact that two or three players had already moved from Olympic Club to other top league clubs before the start of the season proves that our development and development model is viable.

However, the U23 Olympic team that will participate in the Paris Olympic qualifiers in the future will not be the same team as the Olympic Club. The Karpadze mentioned just now is indeed the head coach of the future Olympic team, but when he selects players, on the one hand, he has a group of quality and competitive players in the Olympic club, and on the other hand, he can choose the U23 players scattered in other top league clubs. The combination of these two groups of equally competitive players is the real Olympic team of the future. Of course, we can also form two Olympic teams of equal level at the same time. The establishment of the Olympic Club is actually to further expand the selection base of the national Olympic team. And in this way, for Capazzar, there are now at least two players of the same caliber in each of the team's 11 positions. There is competition between players, which is certainly a good thing for the whole team, for the manager, and we are happy to see.

TITAN: After missing the round of 12 in the last World Cup qualifiers in Qatar, has the Uzbek Football Federation already started preparations for the 2026 World Qualifiers?

Ilmatov: Yes, we had an accident in the last World Qualifiers, football development in any country cannot always be smooth sailing, what matters is what happens after an accident or failure. Now the head coach of the national team, Kataneci, is a very professional coach and he and his assistants have been very committed since their arrival in Uzbekistan, all around the 2026 World Cup. Moreover, the current momentum of the national team is also upward, and the Football Association also fully supports and cooperates with various work, hoping to achieve its goals in the next Asian Cup and the World Preliminary Round.

TITAN: What exactly are the goals?

Ilmatov: (laughs) The goal is definitely to go to the World Cup. As for the Asian Cup, I can't say exactly how many places to finish, I can only say that to win every game, the team can play a performance and result that satisfies the fans.

(4) The football academy is the key to the system

TITAN: Are there any new initiatives in youth football development after you have taken full charge of the FA?

Irmatov: As I said earlier, our focus in youth football development is still on the construction of football academies. In total, there are 14 oblasts or regions in Uzbekistan, and the Football Association has established at least one football academy in each oblast or region. Where there are already football academies, they help them improve the infrastructure and make the turf situation better. If the infrastructure is also perfect, then we are ready to build a second football academy.

We have our own player training and selection system, the most important of which is the football academy, which is the most critical part of cultivating outstanding elite talents. Our system starts with grassroots football at the bottom, where children between the ages of 6 and 12 play freely in a variety of environments. Talents are then selected and transferred to sports schools, where they can play while studying, and good players are selected from them, and then sent to football academies for more professional football training, and then enter the club. Finally, those who are at the top are in the national team.

Over the years, we've been perfecting every aspect of the system to make sure that we produce the best players and deliver them upwards so that the national team can become stronger. The 19 national teams at all levels are produced and selected through such a system, and our work is carried out around this system to ensure that it is getting better and better year by year.

TITAN: In addition to teenagers, I know that the Uzbekistan Football Federation has also attached great importance to women's football over the years.

Ilmatov: Yes, we are now very serious about women's football, especially mentality, to let female footballers change themselves and realize that they can play good football. There are now two levels of women's professional or semi-professional leagues in Uzbekistan, and each club has established smaller echelons of U16 and U14 in addition to the first team and U19 team. We brought in women's football experts from Japan to help us develop women's football, which is a world champion and the coach is very experienced. In the past year or two, the Football Association has also created as many opportunities as possible for women's teams to participate in as many international competitions as possible. Last year, the women's national team organized various training camps, went abroad to practice, went to Hungary, Turkey and many other countries to participate in competitions, and even went to the United States and the United States national team to play two matches. The main purpose of arranging women's football trips is to make our female football players more confident, so that they can also play high-level football and become first-class players and first-class teams through such games and exchanges. Women's football started relatively late in Uzbekistan and is currently in the process of full development, which cannot be compared with Japan, China, South Korea and North Korea in Asia. But we are now on the right path and hope to catch up with these Asian women's football powerhouses in the not-too-distant future.

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During the reporter's interview, Ilmatov's mobile phone kept ringing. Because he was really embarrassed to take up more of his time, he ended the interview early. Ilmatov said that he hoped that the next time would be able to talk longer and have more in-depth exchanges. Finally, he hopes that the reporter will convey his blessings to China and Chinese football.

"The last thing I want to say to my Chinese friends is that I really like China and appreciate Chinese football. I have been to China to enforce many of you's sweeps, including clubs and national teams participating in various levels of continental competitions, and I have also been invited to China to enforce the Chinese Super League. I love the Chinese people very much, and I know very well how much Chinese fans love Chinese football, and the fanaticism is sometimes unbelievable. Therefore, I would like to use Sports Weekly to express my greetings to colleagues in the Chinese Football Association and friends in China, and thank them for their support to me, and hope that there can be more exchanges and common progress between Chinese and Ukrainian football. ”