Latvian club FK Liepāja signs Kyrgyzstan international, Galatasaray academy product
Latvian top-flight club FK Liepāja has registered Kyrgyzstan national team midfielder Almazbekov, who most recently played in the Ukrainian Premier League. Several other Latvian clubs have also strengthened their squads with foreign players.
Latvian Virsliga club FK Liepāja has registered a new player — Kyrgyzstan national team midfielder Almazbekov, a product of the Galatasaray academy in Istanbul.
The 21-year-old began his senior career in 2024 with Kosovo's Llapi, where he made nine appearances until February and recorded one assist. He then moved to Lviv's Rukh, playing 25 matches in the Ukrainian Premier League. The club finished the spring season in 14th place out of 16 teams.
For Kyrgyzstan's national team, Almazbekov has made 19 appearances and scored one goal so far. This year he has featured in all four of the team's friendly matches, starting once and coming on as a substitute in the other three. In a 2:5 friendly loss to Madagascar, he scored a goal and provided an assist in the second half.
Kyrgyzstan currently sits 106th in the FIFA world rankings. In January, the team will compete in the Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, where it has been drawn into a group with Syria, Iran and China. In the third round of World Cup qualifying, Kyrgyzstan finished fifth with eight points from ten matches, behind Iran, Uzbekistan, the UAE and Qatar, but ahead of North Korea. The technical director of the Kyrgyzstan Football Union is Latvian coach Dainis Kazakevičs.
Other clubs also add reinforcements
Besides Almazbekov, Liepāja has also registered three 18-year-old African players, likely intended more for the reserve squad than the first team. Daugavpils has similarly added two young African players to its roster. Meanwhile, Grobiņa has strengthened its squad with 28-year-old Ukrainian attacking midfielder Ivan Tishchenko, who previously played in the Ukrainian Premier League as well as for lower-division club Bukovyna.
