On June 5 of the current year, the Uzbekistan national team will play one of the decisive matches of the 2026 World Cup qualifying stage against the United Arab Emirates national team in Abu Dhabi. Efforts are underway to take 5,000 Uzbek citizens to the UAE as spectators in support of the Uzbekistan national team, in cooperation with fan club members. Against this background, the Tashkent city tourism department has advised entrepreneurship entities active in the tourism sector in the city not to send tourists to the UAE via tour packages during these days.
The thing is, the home stadium of the UAE’s “Al Wahda” football team (“Al-Nahyan”) has a capacity of 12,000 spectators, and according to the rules of the Asian Football Confederation, the host party is obliged to allocate 8% of the capacity (960 people) for the visiting team’s spectators. Influential bloggers specializing in sports, however, are conducting broad promotional activities on social networks with the aim of taking 5,000 Uzbek citizens as spectators to the Emirates in support of the Uzbekistan national team. This could lead to a high likelihood of Uzbek fans not fitting in the stadium and may give rise to safety-related issues.
Therefore, considering the likelihood of Uzbek citizens being turned back at UAE airports by security agencies as a precaution, it is recommended to avoid sending tourists to the UAE via tour packages during these days.
