2021 Tajikistan Higher League

The 2021 Ligai Olii Tojikiston (Tajik: 2021 Лигаи Олии Тоҷикистон, Russian: 2021 Высшая лига Таджикистана), or 2021 Tajikistan Higher League was the 30th season of Tajikistan Higher League, Tajikistan's top division of association football. The season began on 4 April 2021, and consist of twenty-seven rounds of matches.^[1]

Tajikistan Higher League

Season	2021
Dates	4 April – 5 December
Champions	Istiklol
AFC Champions League	Istiklol
Matches played	135
Goals scored	368 (2.73 per match)
Top goalscorer	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov (18)
Biggest home win	Istiklol 7–1 Kuktosh
Biggest away win	Dushanbe-83 0–8 Istiklol
Highest scoring	Istiklol 7–1 Kuktosh Dushanbe-83 0–8 Istiklol
Longest winning run	Istiklol (11)
Longest unbeaten run	Istiklol (19)
Longest winless run	Kuktosh Rudaki (10)
Longest losing run	Fayzkand (5)
← 2020 2022 → All statistics correct as of 5 December 2021.

Season events

On 5 March, the Tajikistan Football Federation announced that the calendar of matches for the 2021 season will be drawn on 12 March.^[1]

Teams

On 5 March 2021, the Tajikistan Football Federation announced that the season would involve ten teams, with there being 27 matches in three rounds. The teams consist of CSKA Pamir, Dushanbe-83, Fayzkand, Istiklol, Istaravshan, Khatlon, Khujand, Kuktosh and newly promoted Eskhata Khujand, and Ravshan Kulob.^[1]

Istaravshan

Khatlon

Eskhata

Khujand

Kuktosh

Fayzkand

Ravshan

Dushanbe

Dushanbe teams
CSKA
Dushanbe-83
Istiklol

Locations of teams in the 2021 Tajikistan Higher League

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
CSKA Pamir	Dushanbe	CSKA Stadium	7,000
Dushanbe-83	Dushanbe
Eskhata	Khujand	Bistsolagii Istiqloliyati Stadium	20,000
Fayzkand	Hulbuk	Markazii Kulob Stadium
Istaravshan	Istaravshan	Istaravshan Sports Complex	20,000
Istiklol	Dushanbe	Markazii Tojikiston Stadium	24,000
Khatlon	Bokhtar	Markazii Bokhtar Stadium	10,000
Khujand	Khujand	Bistsolagii Istiqloliyati Stadium	20,000
Kuktosh	Chorgulteppa	Rudaki Stadium
Ravshan	Kulob	Markazii Kulob Stadium

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsor
CSKA Pamir	Alier Ashurmamadov		Joma	1xBet
Dushanbe-83	Nazir Rizomov		Joma
Eskhata	Khamid Karimov		Joma	Bank Eskhata
Fayzkand	Tokhirjon Muminov
Istaravshan	Makhmadjon Khabibulloev
Istiklol	Vitaliy Levchenko	Alisher Dzhalilov	Joma	Siyoma
Khatlon	Asliddin Khabibullaev		Joma	Formula 55
Khujand	Rustam Khojayev		Joma	Formula 55
Kuktosh	Hikmatullo Sharpiov
Ravshan	Gairatali Mirakhmedov	Hasan Rustamov	Joma	Hoji Sharif

Foreign players

Each Tajikistan Higher League club is permitted to register a maximum of six foreign players, with four allowed on the pitch at the same time.^[2][3]

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Former Players
CSKA Pamir	Luc Mendjana	Idriss Aminu	Ocran Idan	Alex Peprah	Rahat Japarow	Orzubek Buriev		Felix Tette Mykyta Shevtsov
Dushanbe-83	Collins Aduhene	Agbley Johns	Sodiq Musa	Nerrick Tettey	Daniel Tagoe			Luc Mendjana Amir Memari Manesh Ion Arabadji Stanislav Ivanov
Eskhata	Shahzod Abdurakhimov	Akhror Inoyatov						Akobir Turaev
Fayzkand	Arthur Bougnone	Joseph Feumba	Junior Onana	Arash Akbari	Dilshodzhon Baratov	Jasur Kurbonov	Anvar Murodov
Istaravshan	Jafar Ismoilov	Shakhzod Mamurzhonov	Khurshid Olimov	Jakhongir Safarov	Shakhzod Shamsiddinov	Akhrorbek Uktamov
Istiklol	Petar Patev	Ryota Noma	Oleksiy Larin	Andriy Mischenko				Huseyin Dogan
Khatlon	Tony Bikatal	Jen Gaten	Asomini Ebenezer	Kuaye Godson
Khujand	Aleksei Matrossov	Artem Serdyuk	Firdavs Abdusalimov	Olim Karimov	Samandar Ochilov			Maksim Grek
Kuktosh	Olivier Mbom	Ya Saturnin-Hermann	Alizhon Alizhonov	Asadbek Islomov	Sukhrob Rakhmonov	Bunyod Shodiev	Nodirbek Ibragimov	Mukhiddin Odilov
Ravshan	Benjamin Asamoah	Kingsley Osei Effah	Obed Owusu	Musa Ibragimov	Mukhriddin Akhmedov			Nodirbek Ibragimov Anvar Murodov Bunyod Shodiev

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

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
CSKA Pamir	Serhiy Zhytskyi			Pre-Season	Alier Ashurmamadov
Istaravshan	Alier Ashurmamadov				Makhmadjon Khabibulloev
Khujand	Khakim Fuzailov				Rustam Khojayev
Kuktosh	Makhmadjon Khabibulloev				Hikmatullo Sharpiov

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Istiklol (C)	27	21	5	1	78	9	+69	68	Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage
2	Khujand	27	17	4	6	52	26	+26	55	Qualification for AFC Cup play off round
3	CSKA Pamir	27	12	8	7	37	29	+8	44
4	Istaravshan	27	12	6	9	30	25	+5	42
5	Khatlon	27	10	6	11	30	33	−3	36
6	Eskhata	27	9	3	15	33	49	−16	30
7	Ravshan	27	7	8	12	27	35	−8	29
8	Fayzkand	27	8	5	14	20	37	−17	29
9	Kuktosh (R)	27	7	5	15	38	58	−20	26	Relegation to Tajik First Division
10	Dushanbe-83 (R)	27	4	6	17	23	67	−44	18

Source: FFT
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Fixtures and results

Rounds 1–18

Home \ Away	CPD	D83	ESK	FAY	ISA	IST	KHA	KJD	KUK	RAV
CSKA Pamir		3–1	1–3	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–2	3–3
Dushanbe-83	0–0		1–2	1–1	1–1	0–5	1–0	2–1	2–1	4–2
Eskhata	1–2	3–1		1–0	2–3	0–2	1–1	3–2	3–1	1–1
Fayzkand	1–0	2–2	1–3		1–2	0–4	1–2	0–2	3–1	0–0
Istaravshan	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–0		2–1	1–2	2–3	2–2	1–0
Istiklol	1–0	5–0	5–1	4–0	2–0		2–0	4–1	7–1	3–0
Khatlon	1–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–6		1–1	2–0	0–1
Khujand	2–0	4–1	5–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0		4–0	0–0
Kuktosh	3–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	3–3	1–3		1–2
Ravshan	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	2–0

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Rounds 19–27

Home \ Away	CPD	D83	ESK	FAY	ISA	IST	KHA	KJD	KUK	RAV
CSKA Pamir		4–0					0–0	1–0	2–0
Dushanbe-83			1–2	0–1	0–2	0–8
Eskhata	1–2			0–1	1–2	0–3				1–0
Fayzkand	1–3						2–1	0–1	1–0
Istaravshan	0–0			1–0		0–1		1–2		1–0
Istiklol	3–1			5–0			1–0	0–0		2–0
Khatlon		3–1	2–1		0–1				3–0	2–1
Khujand		5–0	2–1				2–1		4–2	3–1
Kuktosh		3–1	5–0		2–1	1–2
Ravshan	1–2	2–0		2–1					2–3

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

By match played

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
CSKA Pamir	L	L	L	W	D	L	D	L	D	L	D	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	L	D	D	W
Dushanbe-83	L	L	W	L	W	D	D	D	L	L	D	L	W	D	D	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	L	L
Eskhata	D	W	D	L	L	W	L	W	W	W	L	L	W	L	W	D	L	L	L	W	L	L	L	L	L	L	W
Fayzkand	W	D	W	D	L	L	L	D	W	L	D	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W
Istaravshan	W	L	W	D	W	L	D	L	D	W	D	W	L	W	W	L	D	L	W	L	L	W	W	L	W	D	W
Istiklol	D	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	D	W	D	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	W
Khatlon	D	D	L	L	D	W	W	W	L	W	D	D	L	L	L	W	L	W	W	L	W	L	L	W	D	W	L
Khujand	W	D	W	L	W	W	W	L	D	L	W	W	W	W	D	L	W	L	W	W	W	D	W	W	W	W	L
Kuktosh	D	W	L	W	L	D	L	W	L	L	D	D	L	L	L	L	D	L	L	W	L	W	L	W	L	W	L
Ravshan	L	D	D	W	L	L	D	L	W	W	D	L	W	D	D	D	D	W	L	L	L	W	L	W	L	L	L

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Season statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Makhmadali Sadykov for Fayzkand against CSKA Pamir. (4 April 2021)^[4]

Top scorers

As of end of season^[5]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Manuchekhr Dzhalilov	Istiklol	18
2	Rustam Soirov	Istiklol	15
3	Dilshod Bozorov	Khujand	13
	Ilhomjon Barotov	Istaravshan
5	Alisher Dzhalilov	Istiklol	12
6	Artyom Serdyuk	Khujand	11
7	Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev	CSKA Pamir Dushanbe	9
	Akobir Turaev	Eskhata
	Abdukhalil Boronov	Fayzkand
	Nuriddin Khamrokulov	Khatlon
	Amirjon Safarov	Kuktosh

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Abdukhalil Boronov	Fayzkand	Kuktosh	3–1 (H)	16 April 2021	[6]
Artyom Serdyuk	Khujand	Istaravshan	2–3 (A)	6 May 2021	[7]
Rustam Soirov	Istiklol	Eskhata	5–1 (H)	4 July 2021	[8]
Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev4	CSKA Pamir Dushanbe	Dushanbe-83	4–0 (H)	25 September 2021	[9]
Manuchekhr Dzhalilov4	Istiklol	Dushanbe-83	0–8 (A)	21 November 2021	[10]
Rustam Soirov	Istiklol	Dushanbe-83	0–8 (A)	21 November 2021	[10]

• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

As of matches played 4 July 2021.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Azimjon Karaev	Fayzkand	4
	Kurbonali Boboev	Istaravshan
	Aleksei Matrossov	Khujand
4	Rustam Yatimov	Istiklol	3
	Rustam Rizoev	Ravshan
6	Kuaye Godson	Khatlon	2
7	Alex Peprah	CSKA Pamir Dushanbe	1
	Faromurz Saidov	Dushanbe-83
	Shakhzod Shamsiddinov	Istaravshan
	Mukhriddin Khasanov	Istiklol
	Shokhrukh Kirgizboev	Kuktosh

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Player of the Month		References
	Manager	Club	Player	Club
April	Azizbek Sultonov	Kuktosh	Tokhirjon Muminov	Fayzkand	[11]
May	Tohirjon Tagoyzoda	Khatlon	Asliddin Khabibullaev	Khatlon	[12]