Turkmenistan is the third former Soviet republic from Central Asia after Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to join the IIHF.

Although Turkmenistan was part of the Soviet Union, playing ice hockey is a rather modern phenomenon. With a large part of the country covered by the Karakum desert, the country rich in natural gas reserves doesn’t have a long tradition in ice sports. However, this is about to change.

Turkmenistan has three indoor ice rinks with four ice sheets suitable for hockey all located in the capital of Ashgabat. The first one, the National Olympic Sports Palace with a capacity for 1,000 spectators, opened in 2006 and was the basis to launch ice sports programs. In 2011 two more ice arenas were built.

The biggest arena is the 10,000-seat Winter Sports Palace that was built with a modern interior and luxurious material. The opening tournament was played with Russian teams Ak Bars Kazan, Neftyanik Almetyevsk, Podhale Nowy Targ from Poland and Maribor from Slovenia.

Ice hockey is an affair at the highest level in Turkmenistan. It was the country’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who demanded to build ice hockey programs. Several companies and government departments founded ice hockey teams and schools and a first domestic tournament was held in April 2012 with medals awarded by the President. The team Burgut of the State Committee for Tourism and Sport became the first winner ahead of Shir, Oguz Khan and Alp Arslan.

Since 2013 the annual Cup of the President of Turkmenistan is held. The international tournament also involved clubs from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine as well as the national teams from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.