Fabio Cannavaro has been chosen to coach Uzbekistan, but only after the team had already secured its place at a men's World Cup for the first time. The appointment, made in October 2025, gives the former Italy captain the job of guiding a squad that has already cleared the hardest hurdle.
That is why his name is drawing attention now. Uzbekistan is one of four national teams playing their first men's World Cup this year, and it became the first country from Central Asia to qualify for the tournament. Cannavaro, who won the 2006 World Cup and the Ballon d'Or, arrives with a profile far bigger than the federation's football history.
The timing, though, is the real story. Uzbekistan finished second behind Iran in the third phase of the Asian qualifiers in June 2025 and booked its place before Cannavaro was hired. Timur Kapadze had been in charge for some months after Srečko Katanec resigned in January 2025 for health reasons, which means the new coach is walking into a team already built for the tournament rather than one still fighting for it.
Cannavaro's route to Tashkent also shows why the hire carries weight beyond a simple coaching change. Between 2014 and 2019 he worked in China and Saudi Arabia, and from 2022 to 2025 he coached Benevento, Udinese and Dinamo Zagabria. Uzbekistan is bringing in a name with elite pedigree and recent experience, not a figure pulled from the sidelines.
But the appointment also underlines a gap. For years, Uzbekistan's football story was shaped by limitation: no player was ever called up to a World Cup during the Soviet period, and the country remained marginal in the sport even after 1991. The expansion from 32 to 48 teams opened more places, and that helped a side from a country of about 3 million inhabitants turn a long wait into qualification. That context explains the breakthrough better than the coaching change does.
The next test is no longer about whether Uzbekistan belongs at the World Cup. It is about what Cannavaro can do with a team that has already made history, led by captain Eldor Shomurodov, 30, who belongs to Roma and is on loan at Istanbul Başakşehir after scoring 21 goals in 33 matches there. If Cannavaro is to matter, he must shape a first-time World Cup side quickly, before the tournament itself turns the appointment into either a footnote or a turning point.
