2025 CAFA Nations Cup


The 2025 CAFA Nations Cup was the second edition of the CAFA Nations Cup, the biennial international men's football championship of Central Asia organized by the Central Asian Football Association. The event was held in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan from August 29 to September 8. Iran were the defending champions.
The [|final] took place on 8 September at the Olympic City Stadium in Tashkent, between hosts Uzbekistan and Iran. Uzbekistan won the match 1–0 to claim their first CAFA Nations Cup title.

Background

In April 2025, it was announced that the second edition of the CAFA Nations Cup would be held around September 2025, commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the CAFA organization.
In June 2025, it was confirmed the second edition would be co-hosted in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on 29 August to 8 September 2025 for the six member associations along with Malaysia and Oman as the guest teams.
On 15 July 2025, Malaysia announced their withdrawal from the competition, citing reasons including problems with logistics and players' availability. On 30 July 2025, India was announced as the guest team, replacing Malaysia in Group B.

Participating nations

Seeding

The following eight teams were divided based on their FIFA Ranking of April 2025. Malaysia was part of the 3 July draw but later withdrew on 15 July.
Pot 1Pot 2Pot 3Pot 4

Draw results

The draw was held in Dushanbe on 3 July 2025 at 16:00, and was broadcast live on YouTube. The draw resulted in the following groups with Malaysia included at the time of the draw, later being replaced by India:

Squads

Each team was required to register a preliminary squad of up to 35 players, three of whom had to be goalkeepers, from which the matchday squad could be selected on a match-by-match basis.

Officials

The following officials were chosen for the competition.
: Also performed as both in some matches.
Referees
  • Mooud Bonyadifard
  • Hasan Akrami
  • Vahid Kazemi
  • Sanzhar Zhakypbekov
  • Zayniddin Alimov
  • Nurzatbek Abdıkadırov
  • Abdullo Davlatov
  • Sajëçon Zajniddinov
  • Sadullo Gulmurodi
  • Axrol Riskullayev
  • Firdavs Norsafarov
  • Ilgiz Tantashev
Assistant Referees, Fourth Officials & VAR Referees
  • Alireza Ildorom
  • Farhad Moravveji
  • Ali Reza Moradi
  • Eldos Murzabekov
  • Kanat Mırsabekov
  • Nuraalı Abdunabiev
  • Ismoil Nuraliev
  • Farhod Kuralov
  • Amirçon Horkašev
  • Vafo Karaev
  • Hasan Karimov
  • Andrey Sapenko
  • Alisher Usmanov
  • Bakhtiyorkhuja Shavkatov

Group stage

All times are local, Uzbekistan & Tajikistan Time.
;Tiebreaker
Teams were ranked according to points, and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.
  1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
  4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
  5. Goal difference in all group matches;
  6. Goals scored in all group matches;
  7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
  8. Disciplinary points ;
  9. Drawing of lots.

Group A


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Group B


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Awards

The following awards were presented at the end of the tournament:
;Best Player
;Top Goalscorer
;Best Goalkeeper
;Fair Play Award

Sponsors

  • 1xBet
  • Evar
  • Koinoti Nav
  • Siyoma
  • Tojiktelecom