Until thecollapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyz football players played for theUSSR national football team. After Kyrgyzstan gained independence on August 31, 1991, the national team was created. Kyrgyzstan played its first match on August 23, 1992, in theCentral Asian Cup [ru] against Uzbekistan inTashkent. The match ended in a 3-0 victory for Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan eventually finished in fourth place. The team was scheduled to play againstTurkmenistan on July 16, 1992, but the match was cancelled due to the absence of the Turkmenistan team. In 1993, Kyrgyzstan participated in the1993 ECO Cup in Iran, but failed to advance past the group stage.
In 1994, the Football Federation of Kyrgyzstan was admitted as a full member of theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) andFIFA. The team participated in the Uzbekistan Independence Cup, finishing in last place. The team did not play any matches in 1995, and in 1996, they participated in the1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification, finishing in second place in their group and failing to advance. In 1997, Kyrgyzstan participated in1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, but was eliminated in the first round after finishing second in their group.
In 2002, the team did not play any matches, and in 2003, they participated in the2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, finishing in second place in their group and failing to advance. That same year, they also participated in the first round of the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, advancing to the next round after defeating Pakistan in both matches. In 2004, Kyrgyzstan participated in the second stage of the2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, but finished in fourth place in their group.
Kyrgyzstan starting line-up againstPhilippines at the2019 AFC Asian Cup Group C match, gaining their first ever win in their history in the tournamentValery Kichin captained Kyrgyzstan at the 2019 AFC Asian Cup
In the years since, Kyrgyzstan has seen some success, participating in the 2010, 2014, and 2018 editions of the AFC Challenge Cup, finishing in third place in 2010 and as runners-up in 2014 . During the third round of the2019 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Kyrgyzstan was grouped withIndia,Myanmar andMacau in which they got 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 lost seeing Kyrgyzstan qualified to their first-ever major tournament in the2019 edition of theAFC Asian Cup.[4] In the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Kyrgyzstan was drawn in Group C alongsideChina,Philippines and heavyweightsSouth Korea. The team lost back to back to China and South Korea needing a desperate win against the Philippines in the last match to at least qualified to the knockout stage whichVitalij Lux scored a hat-trick gaining Kyrgyzstan their first ever win in their history of the tournament seeing them through to the Round of 16 facingUnited Arab Emirates. Throughout the match, UAE was leading at 2–1 where in the 90' minute stoppage time,Tursunali Rustamov scored a header from a corner kick to equalised the match at 2–2 sending it into extra time however their luck ran out asAhmed Khalil scored a penalty seeing Kyrgyzstan out from the tournament. In the same year, Kyrgyzstan reached their highest-ever FIFA ranking of 75th.
In the2023 Asian Cup qualification, Kyrgyzstan hosted all of the Group F matches being grouped with neighbours, Tajikistan and two Southeast Asia countries,Myanmar andSingapore. In the first match, the team bounced back from 1–0 down asValery Kichin converted a penalty to level the score in the 77' minute in whichViktor Maier scored the winner in the 82' minute to secure the three points for Kyrgyzstan. In the next fixture, Viktor Maier scored a brace against Myanmar securing another three points for Kyrgyzstan before facing Tajikistan in a goalless draw in the final fixture seeing both team advancing to the2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.
This article needs to beupdated. The reason given is:New squad announcement[1]. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2025)
In 2006, Kyrgyzstan took part in the inauguralELF Cup inNorthern Cyprus. This competition was originally intended to be for teams that were not members ofFIFA; however, the organisers extended invitations to both Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan, who were both represented by their nationalfutsal teams.