Every Friday night on a small turf field in west Houston, members of Houston’s Uzbek community gather for pickup soccer matches.
Peter Warren/Peter Warren/Chronicle
Every Friday night on a small turf field in west Houston, members of Houston’s Uzbek community gather for pickup soccer matches.
The weekly event, started well before Uzbekistan playing a 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston was even a thought in the community’s mind, serves as a key anchor for staying connected to each other and to their culture.
“This is a time, once a week, to get together and celebrate together,” said Muzaffar “Victor” Muminov, who plays in the game and is a board member of the Uzbek American Society of Houston.
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Players first start arriving to the field, located in a park behind a church of Eldridge Parkway, a little before 7 p.m. on Fridays with the games starting around 7:30 p.m. The pickup matches are first-to-two, but there is also a time limit for each match that keeps things moving if both teams enter a scoring slump.
Players split into multiple teams with winners staying on and losers being replaced by a team waiting on the sidelines. The rotation continues and continues for the two hours.
While the pickup games are spearheaded by the Uzbek community, members of other diasporas, mostly fellow former Soviet states, come and play with them too. Words in English, Uzbek and Russian fly on the pitch like long passes towards the goal.
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“Soccer is a good thing for us to keep us healthy, and it’s fun,” said Oybek Makhmudov, who moved to Houston in 2018 and helps organize the weekly get-together. “We connect, we talk and we can exchange ideas.”
When people first move to Houston, whether from Uzbekistan or another U.S. city, the games are a natural introduction to their new home as people develop relationships with each other that can expand beyond the field.
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The Uzbek community is around 200 to 300 people, Muminov has previously said, and the Uzbek American Society of Houston is less than five years old.
But the pickup soccer games are just one example of how the small community is building strong roots. There are also fishing excursions and holiday parties, among other events.
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Akhror Uktamov, who describes himself as the “social media guy” for the community, said the pickup games are an opportunity to stay connected with Uzbek culture.
“I don’t want to move anywhere else. The main reason is the community. The Uzbek community is very friendly,” Uktamov said.
Uzbekistan is a young country in Central Asia, gaining its independence from the Soviet Union about 35 years ago. But its people have a proud history dating back centuries. Both the country and its people are finding themselves the spotlight this June thanks to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
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The country loves soccer, Uktamov said, and the national team made history last year when it qualified for World Cup for the first time.
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Then in December, FIFA announced that the White Wolves would play one of their group stage matches in Houston — against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal.
“I think most everybody here bought at least four or five tickets to that game,” Makhmudov said.
But community members also highlighted the responsibility that comes with their city hosting such a match. People are treavling to Houston for the match and it’s the local community’sjob to steer them in the right direction and help anyway they can.
It is also an opportunity to raise greater awareness in the Houston community about the country and their presence here.
“We ask everybody, ‘where’s Uzbekistan?’ Nobody knows that this country exists,” Makhmudov said. “We are hardworking people, we’re here only for peace, and we would like to basically achieve that American dream.”
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The Tourism Committee of Uzbekistan is hosting a fan zone at Helix Park that includes a fan march to the stadium Tuesday before the match with Portugal.
Uzbekistan lost in its first match to Colombia, 3-1, but Portugal enters with tons of questions following a surprise 1-1 draw in Houston last week.
But, win, lose or draw, the local community will discuss the match Friday night on the field.
“Everybody comes like it’s a religion,” said Isomiddin Kamilov, who moved to Houston about two years. “Every Friday. No matter the weather.”