Football in Kazakhstan

In 1913-1914, the first Kazakhstani football teams appeared in Semipalatinsk : SSK, Olimp, Swallow, Orlyata and Yarysh. According to one version, Semipalatinsk , which was then one of the largest shopping centers in Central Asia and Siberia, was "imported" by British merchants who had been here. As part of FC Yarysh, a famous writer, ethnographer and poet Mukhtar Auezov (1897-1961) subsequently became famous far beyond the borders of Kazakhstan. Together with Mukhtar Auezov, the pioneers of domestic football as part of Yarysh were Akhmetsalim Karimov (captain), Kasymkhan Muhammedov , Salah Khismatullin , Ziyatdin Ryspaev , Muhammed Saydashev , Yunis Nigmatullin , Gamushin Muhamdin Gambanov , Amirzhan Kurmanov , Ghabdin Ghabdin Gabdinov , together with other enthusiasts laid the foundation for the development of Kazakhstani football. According to information found by Kazakhstani historian Yevgeny Yudin , it was Yarysh that became the first Kazakhstani team to play an international match. We are talking about several Yarysh matches with football players, from among the prisoners of war of the times of World War I held in Semipalatinsk. A certain interest in these games is caused by the fact that, as Yevgeny Yudin reported in his materials, two participants in the 1912 Olympic Games played several times in the team of prisoners of war against Yarysh. The first Kazakhstani football players held their matches in the square, where before the revolution every autumn the famous Semipalatinsk Fair was unfolding every autumn. After the revolution of 1917, new football clubs appeared in the cities of Pavlodar and Ust-Kamenogorsk - “Hawk” and “Mars”.

In the All-Union competitions, Kazakh football players first took part in 1934. In the tournament of the four capitals held in Tashkent , the Alma-Ata team took 3rd place, passing ahead of the teams of Ashgabat and the home team, beating the Frunze team. Since 1936, the Championship of the Kazakh SSR was held (the first champion is the Alma-Ata team) and the Cup of the Kazakh SSR was played (the first owner was Dynamo Alma-Ata). In 1940, Dynamo Alma-Ata won the USSR Cup among production teams. At the 1st Spartakiad of the Peoples of the USSR in 1956, the Kazakh SSR team took 15th place, in subsequent draws - 7th (1979), 10th (1983), 8th (1986). The first representative of the Kazakh SSR in the major league of the USSR championship was Kairat Alma-Ata (1960). The club's best achievement is 7th place (1986).

After independence in 1992, the Football Federation of Kazakhstan was admitted to FIFA and AFC . In 2002, the Football Federation of Kazakhstan decided to move from AFC to UEFA .

Football League System

The football league system of Kazakhstan consists of three levels and is managed by two organizations: the Professional Football League of Kazakhstan and the Football Federation of Kazakhstan .

Tournaments to be played

The football season of Kazakhstan consists of three tournaments: the Championship of Kazakhstan , the Cup of Kazakhstan and the Super Cup of Kazakhstan . As a rule, the Super Bowl is played a week before the start of the Championship season, and the Cup final is usually the final game of the season.

Title clubs

Since 1992, at least one title has been won by 15 football clubs, all of which have become Kazakhstan Cup holders. To date, 5 of them do not exist ( Astana-1964 , Spartak (Semey) , Dostyk (Alma-Ata) , East (Ust-Kamenogorsk) and Alma-Ata ). 9 teams became the champions of Kazakhstan in football, and 6 clubs became the owners of the Super Bowl. In their assets, all three titles have only 5 clubs ( Spartak (Semey) , Aktobe , Shakhtar (Karaganda) , Astana and Kairat (Alma-Ata) ). Given the official tournaments under the auspices of the Football Federation of Kazakhstan , the most titled club in Kazakhstan is Almaty Kairat .

• The current non-existent or non-accepting clubs are in italics .
• Bold Highlighted Results

Club titles by year

• The current non-existent or non-accepting clubs are in italics .
• Bold Highlighted Results

Participation in international tournaments

Since the 1993 championship, the winner of the competition has received the right to speak in the Asian Champions Cup . The highest achievement of Kazakhstan clubs is the 4th place of Pavlodar " Irtysh " in the 2000/2001 season draw.

The 2000 champion, “ Zhenis ” from Astana , did not participate in the 2001/2002 draw, as the Kazakhstan Football Federation became part of the UEFA .

Starting with the 1993 Cup, the trophy holder received the right to participate in the Asian Cup Winners' Cup .

If the holder of the Cup of Kazakhstan became the champion, then his place was taken by the finalist of the Cup. This situation developed in 1995, when the Semipalatinsk “ Elimai ” made a “golden double” and SKIF-Ordabasy received a ticket to the tournament.

The highest achievement of Kazakhstan clubs was the quarter-final stage in the seasons 1996/97 ( Shymkent SKIF-Ordabasy ) and 2000/01 ( Almaty SOPFK Kairat ) in the West Asian zone.

The team held its first official match on June 1, 1992 against the national team of Turkmenistan , which ended 1-0. Home matches are mainly held in Astana at the Astana Arena stadium.

When writing this article, material from the publication Kazakhstan. National Encyclopedia ”(1998-2007), provided by the editors of the“ Kazakh Encyclopedia ”under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 Unported license .