2018 Uzbekistan Super League

Uzbekistan Super League
Season	2018
Champions	Lokomotiv Tashkent (3rd title)
Relegated	Neftchi Fergana
AFC Champions League	Lokomotiv; Pakhtakor; AGMK
Matches played	506
Goals scored	626 (1.24 per match)
Top goalscorer	Tiago Bezerra (17)
	← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Uzbekistan Super League (known as the Pepsi Uzbekistan Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th season of top level football in Uzbekistan since 1992. Lokomotiv Tashkent were the defending champions from the 2017 campaign.^[1]

Teams

Tashkent

Tashkent teams:
Bunyodkor
Lokomotiv
Pakhtakor

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Location of teams in 2018 Uzbekistan Super League

On 21 November 2017 according to UzPFL management decision the Uzbek League was officially renamed to Uzbekistan Super League starting from 2018 season. The number of teams playing in top division of Uzbek football is reduced from 16 to 12.^[2]

The draw for the 2018 Super League season was held on 3 February 2018. The first matchday is scheduled for 1 March 2018.^[3]

Sementchi, the winner of 2017 Uzbekistan First League did not participate in new Super League season. The club failed to pass licensing procedures like Mash'al Mubarek.^[4] These both clubs have been replaced by Neftchi Fergana and Sogdiana Jizzakh which according to 2017 season have been relegated to First League.

Club	Coach	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Kit sponsor
AGMK	Viktor Kumykov	Olmaliq	AGMK Stadium	12,000	Adidas
Bunyodkor	Mirjalol Qosimov	Tashkent	Bunyodkor Stadium	34,000	Jako
Bukhoro	Ulughbek Baqayev	Bukhara	Bukhara Arena	22,700	Macron
Kokand 1912	Numon Hasanov	Kokand	Kokand Stadium	10,500	Joma
Lokomotiv	Andrey Fyodorov	Tashkent	Lokomotiv Stadium	8,000	Joma
Metallurg	Andrey Shipilov	Bekabad	Metallurg Stadium	15,000	Joma
Nasaf	Ruziqul Berdiyev ^ru	Qarshi	Qarshi Markazi Stadium	16,000	Adidas
Navbahor	Ilkhom Muminjonov	Namangan	Namangan Markazi Stadium	22,000	Jako
Neftchi	Sergey Kovshov	Ferghana	Istiqlol Stadium	20,000	Joma
Pakhtakor	Shota Arveladze	Tashkent	Pakhtakor Stadium	35,000	Adidas
Sogdiana	Sergey Lushan	Jizzakh	Soghdiana Stadium	11,650	Joma
Qizilqum	Hamidjon Aktamov	Zarafshan	Progress Stadium	12,500	Joma

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Metallurg	Rustam Mirsodikov	Resigned	25 December 2017	Pre-season	Andrey Shipilov	25 December 2017^[5]
Sogdiana	Igor Shkvyrin	Resigned	27 December 2017	Pre-season	Alexander Mochinov	27 December 2017
Neftchi	Vadim Abramov		27 December 2017	Pre-season	Sergey Kovshov	27 January 2018
Sogdiana	Alexander Mochinov	Sacked	7 April 2018	12th	Sergey Lushan	7 April 2018^[6]
Lokomotiv	Andrey Miklyaev	Resigned	19 April 2018	10th	Andrey Fyodorov	19 April 2018^[7]

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to five per USL team. A team can use only five foreign players on the field in each game.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	AFC Player	Former Player
AGMK	Miloš Trifunović	Vladimir Bubanja	Jovan Đokić	Vladislav Kosmynin	Pavel Matyash	Vadim Cemirtan
Bunyodkor	Filip Rajevac
Bukhara	Vlad Larinov	Vadim Cemirtan			Arslanmyrat Amanow	Sergey Rusetsky Marko Klisura
Kokand 1912	Darko Gojkovic	Marko Milič				Milan Spremo
Lokomotiv Tashkent	Kakha Makharadze	Igor Jelić	Nikolai Pogrebnyak			Nivaldo Cho Suk-jae
Metallurg Bekabad	Andrei Shipilov				Zoir Juraboev
Nasaf						Igor Golban Dragan Ceran Slavko Lukic Jahongir Aliev
Navbahor	Darko Stanojević	Tomislav Pajović	Darko Nikač	Igor Golban		Nenad Injac
Neftchi Ferghana	Vyacheslav Sushkin	Vitali Myrnyi
Pakhtakor	Marko Simić	Isma	Tiago Bezerra	Dragan Ceran	Rostyn Griffiths
Soghdiana	Darvydas Šernas	Miloš Simonović	Nikola Milinković	Milan Mitrović	Kim Dong-hee
Qizilqum	Elgujja Grigalashvili	Giorgi Kvesieshvili	Nemanja Jovanovic	Yevgeni Cheremisin	Artur Gevorkyan

In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Regular stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Pakhtakor	22	14	5	3	36	12	24	47	Qualification to Championship Round
2	Lokomotiv	22	11	7	4	35	21	14	40
3	Bunyodkor	22	12	4	6	35	26	9	40
4	Navbahor	22	11	4	7	29	18	11	37
5	Metallurg	22	9	6	7	24	29	−5	33
6	Bukhoro	22	10	2	10	23	28	−5	32
7	Kokand 1912	22	7	7	8	21	20	1	28	Relegation Round
8	AGMK	22	7	5	10	26	28	−2	26
9	Nasaf	22	6	8	8	21	28	−7	26
10	Qizilqum	22	7	2	13	20	29	−9	23
11	Sogdiana	22	4	5	13	17	32	−15	17
12	Neftchi	22	2	9	11	12	28	−16	15

Source: Uzbekistan Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

Championship round

Teams keep records from regular stage (10 matches) against championship round opponents.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Lokomotiv (C)	20	14	4	2	37	17	20	46	Qualification to the 2019 AFC Champions League group stage
2	Pakhtakor	20	11	4	5	38	17	21	37	Qualification to the 2019 AFC Champions League preliminary round 2
3	Navbahor	20	9	4	7	20	18	2	31
4	Bunyodkor	20	8	3	9	26	26	0	27
5	Metallurg	20	5	4	11	12	28	−16	19
6	Bukhoro	20	3	1	16	14	41	−27	10

Source: Uzbekistan Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) Champions

Relegation round

Teams keep records from regular stage (10 matches) against relegation round opponents.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Nasaf	20	9	7	4	24	16	8	34
8	Qizilqum	20	9	4	7	26	26	0	31
9	Kokand 1912	20	7	7	6	21	14	7	28
10	AGMK	20	7	6	7	25	23	2	27	Qualification to the 2019 AFC Champions League preliminary round 2 and relegation play-off
11	Sogdiana	20	6	6	8	18	23	−5	24	Relegation play-off
12	Neftchi (R)	20	4	6	10	14	26	−12	18	Relegation to Uzbekistan Pro League

Source: Uzbekistan Professional Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(R) Relegated

Relegation play-off

3 December 2018

14:00 UTC 5

Sogdiana	3–1	Mash'al
Shohruz Norkhonov 38' Darvydas Šernas 46' Oybek Nurmatov 73'	Report	Sardor Rakhmanov 79' (pen)

Pakhtakor Markaziy Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 76

Referee: Sherzod Kasymov

4 December 2018

14:00 UTC 5

AGMK	1–0	Istiqlol
Uladzislaw Kasmynin 77'	Report

Lokomotiv Stadium, Tashkent

Attendance: 217

Referee: Aziz Asimov

Sogdiana and AGMK will play in 2019 Uzbekistan Super League next season.

Season statistics

Top scorers

.

As of November 2018

#	Player	Club	Goals
1	Tiago Bezerra	Pakhtakor	17
2	Esmaël Gonçalves	Pakhtakor	16
3	Marat Bikmaev	Lokomotiv	14
4	Bobur Abdikholikov	Nasaf	13
5	Jovan Đokić	AGMK	11
	Murod Kholmukhamedov	Kokand 1912
	Jovlon Ibrokhimov	Bunyodkor

References

^ Uzbekistan 2018, RSSSF.com
^ "Высшая и Первая лиги Узбекистана сменят названия" (in Russian). Gazeta.uz. 2017-11-21.
^ "Когда начнется Суперлига-2018?" (in Russian). Championat.asia. 2018-02-03.
^ "ФФУ объявила список команд, которые примут участие в Суперлиге" (in Russian). Uzdaily.uz. 2018-01-25.
^ "Андрей Шипилов встал у руля "Металлурга"" (in Russian). sports.uz. 2017-12-26.
^ "Официально. Сергей Лущан - главный тренер "Согдианы"" (in Russian). Championat.asia. 2018-04-07.
^ "Андрей Микляев покинул пост главного тренера «Локомотива»" (in Russian). Gazeta.uz. 2018-04-19.

[1] Uzbekistan 2018, RSSSF.com

[2] "Высшая и Первая лиги Узбекистана сменят названия" (in Russian). Gazeta.uz. 2017-11-21.

[3] "Когда начнется Суперлига-2018?" (in Russian). Championat.asia. 2018-02-03.

[4] "ФФУ объявила список команд, которые примут участие в Суперлиге" (in Russian). Uzdaily.uz. 2018-01-25.

[5] "Андрей Шипилов встал у руля "Металлурга"" (in Russian). sports.uz. 2017-12-26.

[6] "Официально. Сергей Лущан - главный тренер "Согдианы"" (in Russian). Championat.asia. 2018-04-07.

[7] "Андрей Микляев покинул пост главного тренера «Локомотива»" (in Russian). Gazeta.uz. 2018-04-19.

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