The Turkmenistan Higher League, also called Türkmenistan Ýokary Liga (Turkmen: Ýokary liga futbol klublarynyň arasyndaky futbol boýunça Türkmenistanyň çempionaty),[2] is the top division of professional football in Turkmenistan, operated by the Turkmenistan Football Federation.
It was founded in 1992. Nine clubs participate in the Higher League of the Turkmenistan National Championship. The season runs between April and November.
There are 9 teams in the competition. As of the 2024 season, the league had one AFC Champions League Two qualifying spot for the league winner league.[3]
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, starting in 1992, each former Soviet republic organized an independent national championship.
FC Kopetdag won the first four titles. Nisa Aşgabat was the only team which managed to break Kopetdag's dominance, winning the top division title in 1996.
In 2022, FC Ahal won the title for the first time in their history in Turkmenistan professional football.[6]
Competition
The league traditionally used to run in summer, from April to November.[7]
As of the 2022 season, the champions qualify for the AFC Champions League group stage. The runners-up qualifies for the AFC Cup group stage. If the winner of Turkmenistan Cup ends in first or second in the championship in same season, then the third-place team qualifies to AFC Cup group stage.[8][9]
The Youth League (Turkmen: Ýaşlar liga), also known as Youth teams championship (Turkmen: Ýaşlar arasyndaky birinjilik) full name Youth football championship of Turkmenisatn among teams of clubs of the Higher League (Turkmen: Ýokary liganyň futbol klublarynyň ýaşlar düzümleriniň gatnaşmagyndaky futbol boýunça Türkmenistanyň birinjiligi), is a league that runs in parallel to the Ýokary Liga and includes the youth or reserve teams of the Turkmenistan Higher League teams. The number of players a team can have on the pitch at a time that are over 21 years of age or without a Turkmenistan citizenship is limited. 8 teams participate in the league.[19] Matches are commonly played a day before the match of the senior teams of the respective teams.