Lazizbek Mirzaev

Lazizbek Mirzaev (Мирзаев Лазизбек; born 5 October 2006) is an Uzbek professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Lokomotiv Tashkent.

Club career
Born in Tashkent, Mirzaev first took an interest in football at the age of seven, after watching Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo play. After suffering a serious injury, he stepped away from the game to recover, before returning in 2019, when he joined the Odil Ahmedov Football Academy.

He joined then-Super League side Lokomotiv Tashkent for the 2022 season, and would go on to make his professional debut on 12 November, coming on as a late second-half substitute for Jerome Mpasko in a 3–1 win against Metallurg Bekabad. In January of the following year, he signed his first professional contract with the club, despite their relegation to the Pro League.

International career
In 2021, Mirzaev represented Uzbekistan at both under-15 and under-16 level, scoring a brace for the latter in a 2–1 away win against the United Arab Emirates on 23 December. The following year he continued to represent the Uzbekistan under-16 team, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 friendly win over the under-18 squad of Pakhtakor, before captaining the side as they played at the Mirabror Usmanov Memorial Cup.

Later in 2022, Mirzaev scored a hat-trick against Brunei in a resounding 14–0 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup qualification win, before following this up with a free-kick equalising goal in an eventual 3–2 win over South Korea, helping Uzbekistan qualify for the 2023 AFC U-17 Asian Cup. At the competition proper, Mirzaev could not prevent Uzbekistan's defeat to South Korea in the semi-finals, stating "We have come a long way to this tournament. We played good matches. The most important thing is to qualify for the World Cup."

Ahead of the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup, Mirzaev was named by FIFA as one of the five Asian players to watch out for.

Club

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