Only gaining independence in the latter half of the last century, the Turkmenistan national football team played its first international game as recently as 1992. The team affiliated to FIFA in 1994.
Turkmenistan is a former state of the Soviet Union. The country gained independence after the fall of communism in 1991. Bordered by both Afghanistan and Iraq, Turkmenistan is neighbour to two countries with unstable recent histories.
As a young team, Turkmenistan’s results have fluctuated. The team’s best result was an 11-0 win over Afghanistan in 2003. The team has lost by a five goal margin on four occasions.
Turkmenistan has played in the Asian Cup since 1996. The team has only qualified for the competition proper once, in 2004. In that year round one was as far as Turkmenistan could progress.