# 2016 Uzbek League

The 2016 Uzbek League was the 25th season of top-level football in Uzbekistan since 1992. Pakhtakor were the defending champions from the 2015 campaign.

## Teams

Sogdiana Jizzakh remained for 2016 Uzbek League after winning in relegation play-off match with Oqtepa. Obod Tashkent promoted to 2016 League as 2015 First League winner. The draw of 2016 season was held on 22 December 2015. The first matchday is scheduled for 4 March 2016.
| Club | Coach | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| FK Andijan | Orif Mamatkazin | Andijan | Soghlom Avlod Stadium | 18,360 |
| Bunyodkor | Sergey Lushan | Tashkent | Bunyodkor Stadium | 34,000 |
| Bukhoro | Jamshid Saidov | Bukhoro | Buxoro Arena | 22,700 |
| Kokand 1912 | Numon Khasanov | Kokand | Kokand Stadium | 10,500 |
| Lokomotiv | Andrey Miklyaev | Tashkent | Lokomotiv Stadium | 8,000 |
| Mash'al | Alexander Khomyakov | Muborak | Bahrom Vafoev Stadium | 10,000 |
| Metallurg | Rustam Mirsodiqov | Bekabad | Metallurg Stadium | 15,000 |
| Nasaf Qarshi | Ruziqul Berdiev | Qarshi | Qarshi Stadium | 14,750 |
| Navbahor | Ilkhom Muminjonov | Namangan | Navbahor Stadium | 22,000 |
| Neftchi | Andrey Fyodorov | Farghona | Istiqlol Stadium | 20,000 |
| Obod Tashkent | Jafar Irismetov | Tashkent | Obod Stadium | |
| Olmaliq FK | Igor Shkvyrin | Olmaliq | Olmaliq SM Stadium | 12,000 |
| Pakhtakor | Grigoriy Kolosovskiy | Tashkent | Pakhtakor Stadium | 35,000 |
| Qizilqum | Yuriy Lukin | Zarafshon | Yoshlar Stadium | 12,500 |
| Sogdiana | Davron Fayziev | Jizzakh | Sogdiana Stadium | 11,650 |
| Shurtan Guzar | Ikhtiyor Karimov | Ghuzor | Ghuzor Stadium | 7,000 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| Obod | Khayrulla Abdiev | Resigned | December 2015 | Pre-season | Bobur Zukhriddinov (interim) | December 2015 |
| Kokand 1912 | Vadim Shodimatov | end of caretaker spell | 6 December 2015 | Pre-season | Murod Ismoilov | 7 December 2015 |
| Navbahor | Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov | Sacked | 28 December 2015 | Pre-season | Rashid Gafurov (interim) | 28 December 2015 |
| Shurtan | Mukhtor Kurbonov | Resigned | 5 January 2016 | Pre-season | Ikhtiyor Karimov | |
| Andijan | Sergey Kovshov | end of caretaker spell | 30 January 2016 | Pre-season | Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov | 30 January 2016 |
| Navbahor | Rashid Gafurov | Sacked | 27 April 2016 | 6th matchday | Alexander Volkov (interim) | 27 April 2016 |
| Kokand 1912 | Murod Ismoilov | Resigned | 16 May 2016 | | Sergey Kovshov (interim) | 16 May 2016 |
| Pakhtakor | Numon Khasanov | Resigned | 27 May 2016 | | Grigoriy Kolosovskiy (interim) | 27 May 2016 |
| Kokand 1912 | Sergey Kovshov | end of caretaker spell | 11 June 2016 | | Numon Khasanov | 11 June 2016 |
| Andijan | Bakhtiyor Ashurmatov | Sacked | 14 June 2016 | | Orif Mamatkazin | 14 June 2016 |
| Obod | Bobur Zukhriddinov | end of caretaker spell | 18 June 2016 | | Alexander Mochinov | 18 June 2016 |
| Navbahor | Alexander Volkov | Sacked | 22 June 2016 | | Mustafo Bayramov (interim) | 22 June 2016 |
| Navbahor | Mustafo Bayramov | end of caretaker spell | 2 July 2016 | | Ravshan Bozorov | 2 July 2016 |
| Obod | Alexander Mochinov | Resigned | 9 September 2016 | | Jafar Irismetov | 10 September 2016 |
| Navbahor | Ravshan Bozorov | Sacked | 6 November 2016 | | Ilkhom Muminjonov | 6 November 2016 |

## 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 | AFC Player | Former players |
| AGMK | Graham Smith | Nemanja Jovanović | Darko Stanojević | Arslanmyrat Amanow | Yaroslav Martynyuk Evgeniy Gogol |
| Andijon | Denis Ilescu | | | Elman Tagayev | |
| Lokomotiv | Kakhi Makharadze | Nemanja Janičić | Slaven Stjepanović | Artur Geworkyan | |
| Pakhtakor | Adnan Orahovac | | | | |
| Mash'al Mubarek | Vladyslav Pavlenko | Vyacheslav Shevchenko | | | |
| FC Buxoro | Vadim Cemirtan | | | | |
| FC Bunyodkor | Chaker Zouaghi | Jurica Buljat | Aleksandar Alempijević | Minori Sato | Samir Bekrić |
| Navbahor | Oleksandr Pyschur | Alexandru Melenciuc | Igor Golban | Choi Hyun-yeon | |
| Neftchi Fergana | | | | Akmal Kholmatov | |
| FC Obod | | | | | |
| Metallurg Bekabad | | | | | |
| Nasaf | Dejan Boljević | Dragan Ceran | Ognjen Krasić | | Rok Roj Artur Geworkyan |
| FC Shurtan Guzar | Oleksandr Pyschur | | | | |
| Kokand 1912 | Darko Gojkovic | Nikola Valentić | | | |
| Sogdiana Jizzakh | | | | | |
| Qizilqum Zarafshon | Andriy Derkach | Georgiy Kvesieshvili | | | |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Lokomotiv (C) | 30 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 77 | 24 | +53 | 74 | 2017 AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Bunyodkor | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 60 | 24 | +36 | 63 | 2017 AFC Champions League 2nd qualifying round |
| 3 | Nasaf | 30 | 18 | 9 | 3 | 46 | 13 | +33 | 63 | 2017 AFC Champions League 2nd qualifying round |
| 4 | Bukhara | 30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 58 | |
| 5 | Pakhtakor | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 52 | |
| 6 | Qizilqum | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 41 | 32 | +9 | 50 | |
| 7 | Metallurg | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 47 | 34 | +13 | 49 | |
| 8 | Mashal | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 35 | 41 | −6 | 38 | |
| 9 | Shurtan | 30 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 43 | 56 | −13 | 38 | |
| 10 | Sogdiana | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 23 | 41 | −18 | 34 | |
| 11 | Neftchi | 30 | 9 | 4 | 17 | 28 | 43 | −15 | 31 | |
| 12 | Kokand 1912 | 30 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 31 | 55 | −24 | 29 | |
| 13 | Olmaliq | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 40 | 54 | −14 | 26 | |
| 14 | Obod | 30 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 25 | 51 | −26 | 24 | |
| 15 | Navbahor | 30 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 37 | 66 | −29 | 23 | Qualification to the Relegation play-offs |
| 16 | Andijan | 30 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 20 | 50 | −30 | 23 | Relegation to Lower Division |

## Relegation play-off

The one leg relegation play-off match between 15th placed team of Uzbek League, Navbahor Namangan and runners-up of 2016 Uzbekistan First League, FC Naryn Khakkulabad was played on 28 November 2016 in Tashkent. Navbahor won by 3:1 and remained in League.

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of 23 November 2016
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov | Lokomotiv | 22 (1) |
| 2 | Zokhid Abdullaev | Metallurg | 18 (0) |
| 3 | Shokhruz Norkhonov | Obod | 14 (2) |
| 4 | Sardor Mirzaev | Lokomotiv | 13 (0) |
| 4 | Nemanja Jovanović | Andijon/Qizilqum | 13 (3) |
| 6 | Zafar Polvonov | Shurtan Guzar | 12 (0) |
| 6 | Marat Bikmaev | Lokomotiv | 12 (1) |
| 6 | Dragan Ćeran | Nasaf | 12 (1) |
| 9 | Shakhboz Erkinov | Mash'al | 11 (1) |
| 9 | Igor Sergeev | Pakhtakor | 11 (3) |

### Hat–tricks

| Player | Team | Against | Result | Date |
| Igor Taran | Shurtan | Sogdiana Jizzakh | 4–2 | 7 May 2016 |
| Oleksandr Pyschur | Navbahor | Kokand 1912 | 5–1 | 14 May 2016 |
| Zafar Polvonov | Shurtan | Pakhtakor | 3–1 | 20 June 2016 |
| Aziz Ibragimov | Andijan | Bukhoro | 1–4 | 26 August 2016 |
| Kenja Turaev | Mashal | Andijan | 5–0 | 24 September 2016 |
| Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov | Mashal | Lokomotiv | 0–4 | 18 October 2016 |