2017 Kazakhstan Premier League

The 2017 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 26th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. Astana are the defending champions having won their third league championship the previous year.

Kazakhstan Premier League

Season	2017
Champions League	Astana
Europa League	Kairat Irtysh Tobol
Matches played	198
Goals scored	488 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gerard Gohou (24 goals)
← 2016 2018 → All statistics correct as of 5 November 2017.

On 23 December 2016, a league format change was announced. The previous system of 22 regular season games followed by 10 games in the championship (top six) or relegation (bottom six) round was discontinued. Instead, the teams played 33 games over three rounds, with at least one home game and one away game against each opponent. These 33 games alone decided the champion, European participants and relegation.^[1]

Teams

FC Zhetysu and FC Taraz were relegated at the end of the 2016 season, and were replaced by FC Kaisar and FC Altai Semey. However, on 3 February 2017, the Football Federation of Kazakhstan ruled that Altai Semey did not meet the required entry requirements for the Premier League, and ruled that FC Taraz will replace them for the 2017 season.^[2]

Team overview

Aktobe

Akzhayik

Astana

Atyrau

Irtysh

Kairat

Kaisar

Okzhetpes

Ordabasy

Shakhter

Taraz

Tobol

Locations of teams in the 2017 Kazakhstan Premier League

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
Aktobe	Aktobe	Aktobe Central Stadium	15,000
Akzhayik	Oral	Petr Atoyan Stadium	8,320
Astana	Astana	Astana Arena	30,000
Atyrau	Atyrau	Munaishy Stadium	8,690
Irtysh	Pavlodar	Pavlodar Central Stadium	15,000
Kairat	Almaty	Almaty Central Stadium	25,057
Kaisar	Kyzylorda	Gany Muratbayev Stadium	7,500
Okzhetpes	Kokshetau	Okzhetpes Stadium	4,158
Ordabasy	Shymkent	Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium	35,000
Shakhter	Karaganda	Shakhter Stadium	20,000
Taraz	Taraz	Taraz Central Stadium	11,525
Tobol	Kostanay	Kostanay Central Stadium	10,500

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aktobe	Igor Prokhnitsky		Adidas	—
Akzhayik	Artur Avakyants	Predrag Govedarica	Adidas	Expo 2017
Astana	Stanimir Stoilov	Nenad Eric	Adidas	Samruk-Kazyna
Atyrau	Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker)	Zhasur Narzikulov	Adidas	—
Irtysh	Vyacheslav Hroznyi	David Loria	Nike	ENRC
Kairat	Carlos Ferrer	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Nike	Expo 2017
Kaisar	Stoycho Mladenov	Maksat Baizhanov	Nike	Expo 2017
Okzhetpes	Viktor Pasulko	Alibek Buleshev	Kappa	Chempionat
Ordabasy	Aleksei Petrushin	Azat Nurgaliev	Adidas	Aysu Mineral Water
Shakhter	Saulius Širmelis		Nike	—
Taraz	Vait Talgayev	Dmitri Yevstigneyev	Nike	—
Tobol	Robert Yevdokimov		Adidas	—

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to eight per KPL team. A team can use only five foreign players on the field in each game.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Player 9	Player 10
Aktobe	Tomáš Šimkovič	Joseph Nane	Jérémy Faug-Porret	Muarem Muarem	Dušan Savić	Marko Obradović	Slobodan Simović	Kristián Kolčák	Oleksandr Volovyk
Akzhayik	Jhoan Arenas	Denis Glavina	Marko Đurović	Jovan Nikolić	Michael Odibe	Freddy Coronel	Predrag Govedarica	Miroslav Lečić	Kostyantyn Dudchenko
Astana	Ivan Mayewski	Igor Shitov	Marin Aničić	Srđan Grahovac	Junior Kabananga	Marin Tomasov	Patrick Twumasi	László Kleinheisler	Đorđe Despotović
Atyrau	Jure Obšivač	Vladimir Dvalishvili	Ucha Lobjanidze	Jovan Đokić	Novica Maksimović	Predrag Sikimić	Shavkat Salomov	Rizvan Ablitarov
Irtysh	Rodrigo António	Béko Fofana	Igor Bugaiov	Carlos Fonseca	Mario Maslać	Stefan Živković	Miloš Stamenković	Vladyslav Ohirya
Kairat	Isael	Ivo Iličević	Ákos Elek	Gerard Gohou	Chuma Anene	Andrey Arshavin	Žarko Marković	César Arzo	Sheldon Bateau
Kaisar	Saidi Ntibazonkiza	Abdel Lamanje	Ivan Graf	Mathias Coureur	Milan Bojović	John Kamara	Volodymyr Arzhanov	Franck Dja Djédjé
Okzhetpes	Marvin Ogunjimi	Gogita Gogua	Georgas Freidgeimas	Aleksandr Kozlov	Matvei Matveyev	Saša Stamenković	Lucas Horvat	Vitaliy Hoshkoderya
Ordabasy	Pablo Fontanello	Roger Canas	Preslav Yordanov	Oliver Petrak	Nikita Bocharov	Abdoulaye Diakate	Aleksandar Simčević	Srđan Vujaklija	Kyrylo Kovalchuk	Alexander Geynrikh
Shakhter	Jiří Valenta	Jakub Chleboun	Korede Aiyegbusi	Marko Stanojević	Milan Stojanović	Július Szöke	Štefan Zošák
Taraz	Mohammed Diarra	Jean-Eudes Maurice	Nemanja Mijušković	Andrei Gorbanets	Yevgeni Shipitsin	Davron Ergashev	Maksym Feshchuk	Malick Mané
Tobol	Amer Bekić	Azdren Llullaku	Fernander Kassaï	Egon Vuch	Nika Kvekveskiri	Artūras Žulpa	Vanče Šikov	Dmytro Nepohodov

In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Aktobe	Yuri Utkulbayev			Pre-season	Ihor Rakhayev	[3]
Atyrau	Stoycho Mladenov				Zoran Vulić	14 December 2016[4]
Kaisar					Stoycho Mladenov	21 November 2016[5]
Taraz	Yuriy Maksymov				Vait Talgayev	4 January 2017[6]
Ordabasy	Bakhtiyar Bayseitov				Aleksei Petrushin	5 February 2017[7]
Atyrau	Zoran Vulić	Resigned	11 April 2017[8]	12th	Sergei Pavlov	13 April 2017[9]
Aktobe	Ihor Rakhayev	Sacked	13 May 2017[10]	12th	Igor Prokhnitsky (caretaker)	13 May 2017[10]
Okzhetpes	Vladimir Mukhanov	Resigned	17 May 2017[11]	8th	Viktor Semenov (caretaker)	17 May 2017[11]
Aktobe	Igor Prokhnitsky	End of caretaker spell	24 May 2017	12th	Vladimir Mukhanov	24 May 2017[12]
Okzhetpes	Viktor Semenov	End of caretaker spell	25 May 2017	9th	Viktor Pasulko	25 May 2017
Shakhter Karagandy	Aleksei Yeryomenko	Fired	29 May 2017[13]	12th	Saulius Širmelis	2 June 2017[14]
Tobol	Omari Tetradze	Resigned	27 June 2017[15]	5th	Robert Yevdokimov	7 July 2017[16]
Kairat	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	Resigned	21 July 2017[17]	2nd	Sergei Labodovsky (caretaker)	23 July 2017[18]
Kairat	Sergei Labodovsky (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	26 July 2017	2nd	Carlos Ferrer	26 July 2017[19]
Irtysh Pavlodar	Dimitar Dimitrov	Resigned	9 August 2017[20]	4th	Sergei Klimov (caretaker)	10 August 2017[21]
Irtysh Pavlodar	Sergei Klimov (caretaker)	End of caretaker spell	17 August 2017	4th	Vyacheslav Hroznyi	17 August 2017[22]
Atyrau	Sergei Pavlov	Resigned	21 September 2017[23]	11th	Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker)	21 September 2017[23]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Astana (C)	33	25	4	4	74	21	+53	79	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Kairat	33	23	9	1	75	28	+47	78	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round [a]
3	Ordabasy	33	18	4	11	44	37	+7	58
4	Irtysh Pavlodar	33	12	12	9	35	32	+3	48	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round [b]
5	Tobol	33	12	11	10	36	26	+10	47
6	Kaisar	33	11	9	13	30	36	−6	42
7	Shakhter Karagandy	33	12	4	17	36	50	−14	40
8	Atyrau[c]	33	10	8	15	34	54	−20	35
9	Aktobe	33	8	9	16	38	46	−8	33
10	Akzhayik (O)	33	7	9	17	29	47	−18	30	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
11	Taraz[d] (R)	33	8	8	17	29	50	−21	26	Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division
12	Okzhetpes (R)	33	7	3	23	28	61	−33	24

Source: UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head matches won; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Goal difference; 8) Matches won; 9) Goals scored; 10) Away goals scored; 11) Draw.^[27]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Kairat qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2017 Kazakhstan Cup.
2. Ordabasy would have qualified too, but they failed to obtain a licence, so Tobol took their place.
3. Atyrau started the season with –9 points as a punishment for unpaid debts to former manager Zoran Filipović.^[24] On 24 April 2017, Atyrau had six points returned to after they cleared their debt to Filipović, with three points retained due to debts to Jonathas.^[25]
4. Taraz had six points deducted as a punishment for unpaid debts to former player Obiora Odita.^[26]

Results

Games 1–22

Home \ Away	AKT	AKZ	AST	ATY	IRT	KRT	KSR	OKZ	ORD	SHA	TAR	TOB
Aktobe	—	1–1	2–4	1–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–3
Akzhayik	2–2	—	0–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	2–2	1–0
Astana	3–0	3–1	—	4–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	4–1	4–0	2–0
Atyrau	2–0	2–0	0–1	—	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	3–3	1–3	1–0
Irtysh Pavlodar	1–3	2–1	1–1	1–1	—	3–3	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–2	5–2	0–1
Kairat	1–0	4–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	—	1–1	2–2	3–0	4–1	4–0	2–0
Kaisar	3–2	0–0	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–2	—	1–0	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0
Okzhetpes	2–1	2–1	0–3	1–0	0–2	2–3	3–1	—	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–0
Ordabasy	2–1	3–0	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	2–1	—	1–0	3–0	1–2
Shakhter Karagandy	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	1–4	0–1	1–0	1–2	—	0–1	1–1
Taraz	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	—	1–0
Tobol	0–0	2–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	5–1	1–0	1–2	1–0	—

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Games 23–33

Home \ Away	AKT	AKZ	AST	ATY	IRT	KRT	KSR	OKZ	ORD	SHA	TAR	TOB
Aktobe	—	—	0–3	—	—	—	0–1	—	2–0	2–0	—	1–0
Akzhayik	2–2	—	—	1–0	—	—	0–0	2–0	—	1–2	—	—
Astana	—	2–0	—	7–0	2–1	0–2	—	4–0	—	—	2–0	—
Atyrau	2–2	—	—	—	0–0	0–1	—	—	—	3–1	3–2	—
Irtysh Pavlodar	1–1	0–1	—	—	—	1–1	0–0	—	—	1–0	—	1–2
Kairat	3–2	2–1	—	—	—	—	3–1	—	5–1	3–1	—	2–0
Kaisar	—	—	1–4	4–1	—	—	—	2–1	1–1	—	—	1–0
Okzhetpes	0–2	—	—	1–2	1–2	0–1	—	—	—	—	2–1	—
Ordabasy	—	3–2	2–1	2–0	1–2	—	—	3–2	—	—	1–0	—
Shakhter Karagandy	—	—	0–1	—	—	—	2–1	2–1	2–1	—	—	1–1
Taraz	1–0	0–1	—	—	1–1	1–5	0–1	—	—	2–3	—	—
Tobol	—	2–0	1–1	2–0	—	—	—	4–1	0–0	—	1–1	—

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

Akzhayik v Makhtaaral

9 November 2017 (2017-11-09)	Akzhayik	2–1	Makhtaaral	Astana
15:00 (UTC+6)	Dudchenko 45+1', 86'	Report	S.Chulagov 35'	Stadium: Astana Arena

Statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Aleksey Shchotkin for Tobol against Atyrau (8 March 2017)

Top scorers

As of matches played 28 October 2017^[28]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Gerard Gohou	Kairat	24
2	Junior Kabananga	Astana	19
3	Patrick Twumasi	Astana	13
4	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Kairat	11
5	Milan Stojanović	Shakhter Karagandy	10
	Aleksey Shchotkin	Tobol
7	Ihar Zyankovich	Aktobe	9
	Tanat Nusserbayev	Ordabasy
9	Srđan Grahovac	Astana	8
	Isael	Kairat

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Aleksey Shchotkin	Tobol	Atyrau	3–0	8 March 2017	[29]
Gerard Gohou	Kairat	Shakhter Karagandy	4–1	8 April 2017	[30]
Junior Kabananga	Astana	Shakhter Karagandy	4–1	28 May 2017	[31]
Milan Stojanović	Shakhter Karagandy	Taraz	3–2	21 October 2017	[32]
Egon Vůch	Tobol	Okzhetpes	4–1	22 October 2017	[33]