AFC Asian Qualifiers
With Kyrgyz Republic having navigated past the second round of the AFC Asian Qualifiers™ for the first time, the entire nation is looking forward to the next phase of qualifying and the 46-year-old head coach shares with the-AFC.com on what his plans are to take on the continent’s best teams.
Appointed in June, Lisitsyn is a name that was already synonymous with Kyrgyz football - having been the head coach of Dordoi FC and Ilbirs FC which led to him being appointed as the tactician for the Kyrgyz national Under-23 and Under-20 sides.
Lisitsyn underlined his capabilities by steering Kyrgyz Republic to the knockout stage of the Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, the first time in four attempts.
Having been part of the football fabric in Kyrgyz Republic since 2018, Lisitsyn is not stepping into an entirely unknown team but one which he is rather familiar with.
“Together with the whole team, we are waiting for the third round with plenty of excitement where I think we will gain a lot of new emotions which I hope will be a positive one,” said Lisitsyn.
“We did my official presentation just before the training camp but I have already worked with a big group of players before, so I’m familiar with the players and I know what they are capable of.”
The Russian took over duties after the end of the Preliminary Joint Qualification – Round 2 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ where outgoing head coach Stefan Tarkovic guided Kyrgyz Republic to a second place finish in Group D.
Finishing on 11 points was enough to send the team into AFC Asian Qualifiers™ – Road to 26 even though their campaign had started with a 4-3 reverse to Malaysia.
However, three consecutive wins against Oman and Chinese Taipei (twice) put their qualification back on track and they sealed progression with back-to-back draws against Oman and Malaysia.
Drawn in Group A of the AFC Asian Qualifiers - Road To 26, Lisitsyn can look forward to pitting his managerial skills against the likes of Islamic Republic of Iran, Uzbekistan and reigning AFC Asian Cup™ champions, Qatar.
“From the outset, it’s 10 games against Asia’s top teams. Usually, we can look at it as an opportunity for development to the team and the players.
“However, we cannot just give up from a tournament standpoint, we will of course go into every match looking to give our best fight and try to gain as many points as we can.
“We understand that we will play very good teams and we have our targets but overall our ambition is to try to get points in every single game,” he explained.
Their campaign begins with an away trip to face Iran on Thursday before welcoming Central Asian rivals Uzbekistan to Dolen Omurzakov Stadium on Tuesday.
Both will be difficult tasks as Kyrgyz Republic are ranked 102 to Iran’s 20th and Uzbekistan’s 61st but there are also other factors which Lisitsyn will have to take into consideration as he prepares his team.
“Preparations are going as planned, but we have some logistical difficulties with transporting a big group of players to the training camp, so the squad was only complete late.
“We are going to face transportation issues to the first match venue (Fooladshahr) as well as the return trip back to Bishkek for our second game,” he added.
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