Ahmet Ataýew

He started playing football at 6 years old. His first coach was Atamyrat Jumamuradov, in Youth sport school of Bagyr (Ahal Region). He began his professional career in Ashgabat; from 2007 to 2010 he played for FC Talyp Sporty. The first half of the 2011 season was held in FC Aşgabat. The second part of the 2011 season, he played for FC HTTU, which included winning the Cup of Turkmenistan for the first time. In 2013, he became the first champion 2013 Ýokary Liga. Since 2014, Ataýew has played for Altyn Asyr FK. As part of the team, he won the title of champion of Turkmenistan in 2014 and 2015, the 2015 Turkmenistan Cup, and the 2015 Turkmenistan Super Cup. At the end of the 2015 season, Ataýew was voted the best player of 2015 Ýokary Liga. From August 2017, he began performing in Indonesia's Super League for the Arema, which included 25 games and scored 3 goals. In June 2018 moved to the new Indonesian club Persela, which he played for until the end of the 2018 year. On 15 May 2019, Ataýew signed by Malaysian Premier League club Sabah FA as one of two imports to fill their vacant player slots. Ataýew became part of the team squad that emerged as the champion of 2019 Malaysia Premier League since the team last lifted their old first division title back in 1996, subsequently qualifying them into the 2020 Malaysia Super League. In the team match against Kelantan FA, Ataýew notably scored the winning goal from a ball given by his teammate through corner kick in the 58th minute.

He played for the Olympic team of Turkmenistan in the Asian Football Confederation's Pre-Olympic Tournament. Ataýew made his senior national team debut on 27 January 2012, in a friendly match against Romania. The captain of the national team from 2015. In December 2018, he was included in the squad for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. On 9 January, in the first match of the group stage against Japan, he scored in the 79th minute from a penalty kick. Turkmenistan ultimately lost the match 2–3.

International goals

Scores and results list Turkmenistan's goal tally first.