The national association regularly takes part in competitions organised by FIFA and the AFC at senior and youth level.
The Africans surprised many with their 1–0 win over defending champions Argentina in the opening match and finally bowed out in the quarter-finals.
From 1937 until 1991, the most successful clubs were Neftyanik Kvasnovodsk and Pogranichnik Ashkhabad, each having won six Turkmen SSR Championship titles.
[2] Even though no team from the Turkmen SSR ever played in the Soviet Top League,[3] several footballers did, of whom most notably are Valeri Broshin, Kurban Berdyev, Sergey Agashkov, Ravshan Muhadov,[4] Dmitri Khomukha, Charyar Mukhadov and Vitaliy Kafanov.
Ten years later, the national team qualified for its only appearance in the continental tournament the 2004 AFC Asian Cup, then came close again for qualifying when reached the final of the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup losing to North Korea eventual champions in penalty shootouts.