Mirjalol Qosimov


Mirjalol Kushakovich Qosimov is a former head coach of the Uzbekistan national football team. He also played for the national team as a playmaker. Qosimov is currently the manager of Bunyodkor.

Club career

Qosimov finished his career in 2005 with FK Mash'al Mubarek, which plays in Uzbek League. He played a vital role in Mash'al becoming runners-up during the 2005 Uzbek national football club championship, which was the club's best ever finish. 2005 he decided to finish his career. Kasimov previously starred for Pakhtakor and Alania Vladikavkaz in Russia. With 210 goals in his playing career he is a member of Club 200 of Berador Abduraimov and Gennadi Krasnitsky club. He is one of the most successful and famous players of Uzbek football of the modern period.
Qosimov was the first Uzbekistani and the second Asian player after South Korean Cha Bum-Kun to have scored in UEFA competitions, UEFA Cup. On 12 September 1995, in the 1995–96 UEFA Cup, he scored for Alania against Liverpool.

International career

In 1987, Qosimov got his first international experience as a member of the Soviet U-17 football team and won with the national USSR team the FIFA U-16 championship in Canada, becoming one of the rising stars of the tournament. One year later, 1988 Mirdjalol with USSR U-18 won the European U-18 Football championship title
In 1994 Uzbekistan won the Asian Games and he was selected as the best midfield player in Asia; in 1993, 1998, 2001 and 2004 he was named the best football player in Uzbekistan. Kasimov captained the Uzbek national team for a long time in the 2000s. His last international match in the national team was against the Bahrain national football team in the World Cup 2006 qualifiers in Tashkent.
He played his final match in professional football on 2 June 2007 at MHSK Stadium in Tashkent against a combined team of European and Asian stars. The match brought together famous players such as Iranian Ali Daei, his counterpart Alireza Mansurian, and ex-Qatar international Mubarak Mustapha, his former trainer from Alania, Valeri Gazzaev, Russian footballers Viktor Onopko and Andrei Karyaka. It was the last match in his bright career that lasted more than 20 years and 67 appearances in the uniform of the national team and 31 goals.

Managing career

He started his trainer career as coach of Mash'al Mubarek, his last player station, where he retired as player. In 2006, he became co-trainer to Rauf Inileev of the Uzbekistan national and Uzbekistan Olympic football team. In December 2007 Kasymov was appointed as coach of Bunyodkor. In 2008, he managed to bring his club to the semi-final of the AFC Champions League in the club's first appearance in this tournament, which is considered to be the best international performance of Bunyodkor's history actually. Bunyodkor won in quarterfinal of tournament in two leg matches Saipa. On 25 September 2008 Brazilian legend, Zico was appointed as the new coach of Bunyodkor, Kasimov remained adviser-coach at club side.
On 16 September 2008, he became head coach of the Uzbekistan national football team for the qualification stage of the 2010 World cup. On 6 April 2010 he was replaced by Vadim Abramov as national team trainer. After Luiz Felipe Scolari left Bunyodkor in May 2010, Qosimov was named coach of the club again.
The authoritative football news website Goal.com named Qosimov as Best Coach of Month for the successful play of Bunyodkor in the AFC Champions League in that month.
On 4 June 2012, Qosimov was appointed as the new head coach of the Uzbekistan national football team for the second time after Vadim Abramov resigned from his post.
On 3 January 2013, IFFHS published its list of The World's best National Coach 2012 and Qosimov ranked 14th in the list among 17 coaches with 6 points, followed by Oleg Blokhin and the current coach of Switzerland, Ottmar Hitzfeld. In monthly survey Coach of the Month by Football Federation over the 2012 Kasymov was named best coach 6 times. UFF named Kasymov Coach of the Year on 21 January 2013.
Qosimov resigned his post as Bunyodkor's head coach on 5 April 2014 to concentrate on his work in the national team. He also led the U-23 national team for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.

Honours

Club

;Bunyodkor
;AGMK
;Individual

Player

Mirjalol Qosimov as Alania Vladikavkaz player performed 3 international appearances in UEFA tournaments. In the UEFA Cup season 1995–96 Kasymov played twice in a match against FC Liverpool won by albion team with 2–1 and scored an only goal of his team. In UEFA Champions League season 1996–97 qualifying round he played in a match against Rangers F.C. on 7 August 1996 won by Rangers with 3–1.
''Statistics accurate as of match played 12 November 2004 in Russian Premier League.

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentResultCompetitionScored
11 October 1994Hiroshima, Japan4-11994 Asian Games1
23 October 1994Hiroshima, Japan5-01994 Asian Games1
3, 47 October 1994Onomichi, Japan5-41994 Asian Games2
521 October 1995Tashkent, Uzbekistan2-31995 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations1
6, 719 June 1996Tashkent, Uzbekistan5-01996 Asian Cup qualifier2
825 October 1997Tashkent, Uzbekistan4-01998 World Cup qualifier1
924 April 1998Baku, Azerbaijan1-2Friendly1
103 December 1998Chiangmai, Thailand3-31998 Asian Games1
11, 12, 135 December 1998Chiangmai, Thailand15-01998 Asian Games3
1411 July 1999Samarkand, Uzbekistan3-0Friendly1
1521 November 1999Al-Ain, Bangladesh6-02000 Asian Cup qualifier1
1614 October 2000Sidon, Lebanon1-12000 Asian Cup1
1725 April 2001Tashkent, Uzbekistan1-02002 World Cup qualifier1
183 May 2001Amman, Jordan5-22002 World Cup qualifier1
19, 205 May 2001Amman, Jordan4-02002 World Cup qualifier2
2126 August 2001Tashkent, Uzbekistan2-12002 World Cup qualifier1
22, 238 September 2001Tashkent, Uzbekistan5-02002 World Cup qualifier2
2428 September 2001Doha, Qatar2-22002 World Cup qualifier1
2518 July 2004Chengdu, China1-02004 Asian Cup1
2626 July 2004Chongqing, China1-02004 Asian Cup1
278 September 2004Al Rayyan, Qatar3-02006 World Cup qualifier1
28, 29, 3017 November 2004Tashkent, Uzbekistan3-02006 World Cup qualifier3
313 September 2005Tashkent, Uzbekistan1-0Friendly1