The government of Uzbekistan has officially postponed the start of the working day by two hours for employees of state organizations. Uzbekistan's debut match at the World Cup will begin on June 18 at 07:00, so state organizations will start work at 10 a.m., allowing fans to watch the historic match in the morning. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
President Shavkat Mirziyoyev gave such an order, considering that the match between Uzbekistan and Colombia at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City starts at 7:00 a.m. Tashkent time. This was announced on Wednesday by the press secretary of the head of state, Sherzod Asadov.
Private enterprises set their own working hours based on their capabilities, he noted.
"Of course, our respected president, like our 40-million people, is very much looking forward to this match. In almost all negotiations, foreign guests wish success to our national team," Asadov said.
According to him, Mirziyoyev himself will watch the match "with his family and grandchildren."
The Uzbekistan national team is competing in the final stage of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in history. The team coached by Fabio Cannavaro plays in Group K alongside Portugal, Colombia, and DR Congo.
It is worth noting that Uzbekistan is not the only country to take such measures: earlier at the 2026 World Cup, the authorities of Iraq similarly shifted the working day for the match of their national team.
Earlier, Kursiv wrote that Portugal failed to beat DR Congo at the start of the 2026 World Cup.
The Portuguese national team drew with DR Congo in the first round match of the 2026 World Cup – 1:1. Goals were scored by João Neves and Yoane Wissa.