Two weeks before the Asian Cup 2027 qualifying match against Thailand, Turkmenistan’s national football team appointed a new head coach. Rovshen Meredov, a 42-year-old specialist, holder of the professional PRO coaching license and master of sports, took the position, the Turkmenistan: Golden age electronic newspaper reports.
Rovshen Meredov replaced Mergen Orazov as head coach of the national team. Under Orazov’s leadership since 2023, Turkmen footballers won one official match — a 2-1 away victory over Chinese Taipei in the Asian Cup 2027 qualifiers.
Rovshen Meredov began playing football in Balkanabat in the group of youth sports school coach Valery Revazovich Tskitishvili. Later, he played for top league teams including Nebitchi, Dagdan, Galkan, Ahal and HTTU.
In 2003, he graduated from Turkmen State University with a degree in law.
After ending his playing career in 2013, he transitioned to coaching.
Under Meredov’s leadership HTTU won the AFC President’s Cup in 2014 — the third most prestigious Asian club trophy — and Ahal won the Turkmenistan Cup in 2017, as well as three silver medals in the national championship.
In 2020, after nearly two years of study in Tashkent, Rovshen Meredov successfully defended a FIFA- and AFC-recognized diploma to obtain the professional PRO coaching license, which authorizes coaching national teams and club teams anywhere in the world. After that, he gained international coaching experience. In 2020 he coached Uzbek club Kyzylkum and in 2022 — Kyrgyz club Kaganat.
Since early 2025, Rovshen Meredov has headed the technical department of the Turkmenistan Football Federation, which is responsible for the development of youth, women’s, grassroots football, as well as futsal and coaching education. Since 2020, he has also been a FIFA technical expert in the Global Football Development project led by former Arsenal head coach Arsène Wenger.
Now, Rovshen Meredov faces a difficult task — to lead Turkmenistan’s national team to qualify for the Asian Cup, the final tournament of which will be held in 2027 in Saudi Arabia. To achieve this, they must finish first in Group D, competing against Thailand, Chinese Taipei and Sri Lanka.
It is worth recalling that Turkmen footballers have only twice participated in the Asian Cup final stages before. The first time was in 2004 when the tournament was held in China, and the second time was in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.
