2018 Kazakhstan Premier League

The 2018 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 27th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. Astana defended their championship, winning the Premier League for a fifth time.

Kazakhstan Premier League

Season	2018
Champions	Astana
Relegated	Kyzylzhar Akzhayik
Champions League	Astana
Europa League	Kairat Tobol
Matches played	198
Goals scored	471 (2.38 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcos Pizzelli (18)
← 2017 2019 → All statistics correct as of 20 November 2018.

Teams

FC Okzhetpes and FC Taraz were relegated at the end of the 2016 season, and were replaced by FC Zhetysu and FC Kyzylzhar.

Team overview

Aktobe

Akzhayik

Astana

Atyrau

Irtysh

Kairat

Kaisar

Kyzylzhar

Ordabasy

Shakhter

Tobol

Zhetysu

Locations of teams in the 2018 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
Kyzylzhar	Petropavl	Karasai Stadium	11,000
Ordabasy	Shymkent	Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium	20,000
Shakhter	Karaganda	Shakhter Stadium	20,000
Tobol	Kostanay	Kostanay Central Stadium	10,500
Zhetysu	Taldykorgan	Zhetysu Stadium	4,000

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	Vladimir Mukhanov	Marcos Pizzelli	Adidas	—
Akzhayik	Artur Avakyants	Miram Sapanov	Adidas	—
Astana	Roman Hryhorchuk	Dmitri Shomko	Adidas	Samruk-Kazyna
Atyrau	Viktor Kumykov	Marat Khayrullin	Nike	—
Irtysh	Dimitar Dimitrov	Nikita Kalmykov	Nike	ENRC
Kairat	Carlos Alós	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Nike	Halyk Bank
Kaisar	Stoycho Mladenov	Maksat Baizhanov	Nike	—
Kyzylzhar	Andrey Kucheryavykh	Timur Muldinov	Nike	—
Ordabasy	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	Azat Nurgaliev	Nike	Aysu Mineral Water
Shakhter	Nikolay Kostov	Evgeniy Tarasov	Nike	BTL Kazakhstan
Tobol	Marek Zub	Azat Nurgaliev	Adidas	Polymetal
Zhetysu	Dmitriy Ogai	Mantas Kuklys	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
Aktobe	Marcos Pizzelli	Reynaldo	Hrvoje Miličević	Jean-Eudes Maurice	Saša Marjanović	Milan Radin	Aleksandar Simčević
Akzhayik	Denis Glavina	Artūrs Karašausks	Malick Mané	Andriy Tkachuk	Yevhen Borovyk	Ambrosiy Chachua	Ihor Khudobyak	Serhiy Basov
Astana	Richard Almeida	Ivan Mayewski	Marin Aničić	Pedro Henrique	Marin Tomasov	Rangelo Janga	Junior Kabananga	László Kleinheisler	Antonio Rukavina
Atyrau	Joseph Nane	Tomislav Barbarić	Jure Obšivač	Tunde Adeniji	František Kubík	Novica Maksimović	Predrag Sikimić	Rizvan Ablitarov
Irtysh	Gbolahan Salami	Carlos Fonseca	Adrian Avramia	Doru Popadiuc	Miloš Stamenković	Adri	Syarhey Kislyak
Kairat	Isael	Juan Felipe	Syarhey Palitsevich	Ivo Iličević	Ákos Elek	Márton Eppel	Andrey Arshavin	Sheldon Bateau	Aderinsola Eseola
Kaisar	Abdel Lamanje	Ivan Graf	Franck Dja Djedjé	Paul Were	Mathias Coureur	John Kamara	Bratislav Punoševac	Volodymyr Arzhanov
Kyzylzhar	Momodou Ceesay	Shota Grigalashvili	Giorgi Popkhadze	Uroš Delić	Freddy Coronel	Miroslav Lečić	Maksym Drachenko	Oleksandr Stetsenko
Ordabasy	Pablo Fontanello	Mirzad Mehanović	Luka Muženjak	Helton	Nikita Bocharov	Abdoulaye Diakate	Nemanja Kojić	Kyrylo Kovalchuk
Shakhter	Gegham Harutyunyan	Alyaksandr Valadzko	Mateo Mužek	Lukas Droppa	Egon Vuch	Sergei Mošnikov	Damir Kojašević	Yevhen Tkachuk
Tobol	Juan Lescano	Fernander Kassaï	Jaba Kankava	Nika Kvekveskiri	Artūras Žulpa	Ionuț Larie	Dmytro Nepohodov
Zhetysu	Kamo Hovhannisyan	Edgar Malakyan	Andrey Lebedzew	Ivan Sadownichy	Lasha Kasradze	David Mawutor	Mantas Kuklys	Ruslan Stepanyuk	Server Djeparov

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
Irtysh Pavlodar	Vyacheslav Hroznyi	End of contract	16 November 2017[1]	Pre-season	Gerard Nus	21 December 2017[2]
Tobol	Robert Yevdokimov	End of contract	1 December 2017		Vladimir Nikitenko	25 December 2017
Akzhayik	Vakhid Masudov				Volodymyr Mazyar	17 December 2017
Atyrau	Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker)	End of contract			Vakhid Masudov	8 January 2018[3]
Ordabasy	Aleksei Petrushin	End of contract			Georgi Dermendzhiev	11 January 2018[4]
Shakhter Karagandy	Saulius Širmelis	End of contract	31 December 2017		Uladzimir Zhuravel	9 January 2018[5]
Atyrau	Vakhid Masudov	Resigned	9 April 2018[6]	12th	Adrian Sosnovschi	11 April 2018[7]
Irtysh Pavlodar	Gerard Nus	Sacked	28 April 2018[8]	8th	Dmitry Kuznetsov (Caretaker)	28 April 2018
Akzhayik	Volodymyr Mazyar		15 May 2018	7th
Irtysh Pavlodar	Dmitry Kuznetsov (Caretaker)	End of Contract	13 June 2018	5th	Oirat Saduov	13 June 2018[9]
Shakhter Karagandy	Uladzimir Zhuravel	Mutual Termination	3 July 2018[10]	10th	Andrei Finonchenko (Caretaker)	3 July 2018[10]
Atyrau	Adrian Sosnovschi	Resigned	1 July 2018[11]	12th	Viktor Kumykov	4 July 2018[12]
Irtysh Pavlodar	Oirat Saduov	Sacked	10 July 2018	9th	Dimitar Dimitrov	10 July 2018[13]
Tobol	Vladimir Nikitenko	Resignation	1 August 2018[14]	3rd	Marek Zub	6 August 2018[15]
Kairat	Carlos Alós	Mutual Consent	15 October 2018[16]	2nd	Andrei Karpovich (Caretaker)	15 October 2018[17]

Regular season

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Astana (C)	33	24	5	4	66	22	+44	77	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Kairat	33	19	5	9	60	33	+27	62	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Tobol	33	15	8	10	36	30	+6	53
4	Ordabasy	33	13	7	13	38	44	−6	46
5	Kaisar	33	11	12	10	35	31	+4	45
6	Zhetysu	33	11	10	12	36	40	−4	43
7	Aktobe[b]	33	13	9	11	51	47	+4	42
8	Shakhter Karagandy	33	8	12	13	29	36	−7	36
9	Atyrau	33	9	9	15	34	47	−13	36
10	Irtysh Pavlodar (O)	33	10	5	18	28	45	−17	35	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
11	Kyzylzhar (R)	33	10	5	18	27	48	−21	35	Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division
12	Akzhayik (R)	33	7	9	17	31	48	−17	30

Source: UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Matches won; 4) Goals scored; 5) Away goals scored; 6) Head-to-head points; 7) Head-to-head matches won; 8) Head-to-head goal difference; 9) Head-to-head goals scored; 10) Head-to-head away goals scored; 11) Draw.^[19]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of 2018 Kazakhstan Cup, Kairat, qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the Cup winner (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the next best-placed team (the fourth-placed team).
2. Aktobe had six points deducted on 27 April 2018 as a punishment for unpaid debts to former player Danilo Neco.^[18]

Results

Games 1–22

Home \ Away	AKT	AKZ	AST	ATY	IRT	KRT	KSR	KYZ	ORD	SHA	TOB	ZHE
Aktobe	—	5–3	1–1	5–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	0–1	1–1
Akzhayik	1–1	—	3–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	1–3	2–0
Astana	3–1	3–0	—	2–0	3–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	5–3	2–0	1–0	3–0
Atyrau	1–1	2–0	0–2	—	2–0	1–3	2–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–2	1–0
Irtysh Pavlodar	2–1	2–0	1–6	2–1	—	1–2	0–1	5–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–2
Kairat	3–2	3–0	1–2	2–0	4–0	—	4–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–1
Kaisar	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–0	1–2	—	2–1	0–0	3–0	2–2	0–0
Kyzylzhar	2–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	—	1–2	1–0	1–2	1–0
Ordabasy	3–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	1–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	—	2–1	0–1	1–2
Shakhter Karagandy	1–1	1–2	1–0	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	0–0	—	0–1	1–1
Tobol	2–3	1–1	0–0	3–2	1–1	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	0–1	—	1–0
Zhetysu	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–2	2–1	1–3	1–0	2–1	4–2	1–0	0–1	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Games 23–33

Home \ Away	AKT	AKZ	AST	ATY	IRT	KRT	KSR	KYZ	ORD	SHA	TOB	ZHE
Aktobe	—		1–2		2–0		0–2	1–0			3–1	2–3
Akzhayik	0–0	—	1–2				0–4	0–0			0–1
Astana			—		4–0	3–2	0–0	3–0	1–1			3–0
Atyrau	3–1	2–1	0–1	—				3–2			2–1
Irtysh Pavlodar		2–0		1–0	—		0–1	0–1		1–1
Kairat	6–1	0–1		4–2	0–1	—				0–0	0–0
Kaisar				2–2		1–2	—		2–1	2–1		1–0
Kyzylzhar						2–1	1–0	—	1–2	2–1		1–1
Ordabasy	0–0	1–0		1–0	0–2	2–0			—	1–1
Shakhter Karagandy	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–1						—	2–1
Tobol			1–0		1–2		0–0	3–0	1–0		—	2–2
Zhetysu		3–1		0–0	2–0	1–0			1–1	1–1		—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

Kyran v Irtysh Pavlodar

16 November 2018 1st leg	Kyran	0 – 3	Irtysh Pavlodar	Shymkent
15:00 (UTC+6)	D.Kuanyshbay  30' S.Turekhanov  40' A.Makhambetov  90+1'	Report	Rodrigo 9' Shestakov 40' A.Pazylkhan 49' (o.g.)	Stadium: Lokomotive Stadium Attendance: 500 Referee: Aleksandr Gauzer

Irtysh Pavlodar v Kyran

20 November 2018 2nd leg	Irtysh Pavlodar	2 – 1 (5 – 1 agg.)	Kyran	Pavlodar
15:00 (UTC+6)	A.Smailov 66' Stamenković 82'	Report	S.Abzhal 76'	Stadium: Central Stadium Attendance: 800 Referee: Georgiy Chekhovskiy

Statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Pavel Shabalin for Irtysh Pavlodar against Atyrau (11 March 2018)

Top scorers

As of matches played 11 November 2018^[20]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marcos Pizzelli	Aktobe	18
2	Aderinsola Eseola	Akzhayik/Kairat	17
3	Marin Tomasov	Astana	14
4	Isael	Kairat	12
5	Aleksey Shchotkin	Astana	10
	Bratislav Punoševac	Kaisar
7	Andrey Arshavin	Kairat	9
	Malick Mané	Akzhayik
9	Azat Nurgaliev	Tobol	8
	Babatunde Temitope Adeniji	Atyrau
	Damir Kojašević	Shakhter Karagandy
	Timur Muldinov	Kyzylzhar
	Roman Murtazayev	Astana
	Patrick Twumasi	Astana
	Marat Khairullin	Atyrau

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Baktiyar Zaynutdinov	Astana	Irtysh Pavlodar	6–1	7 April 2018	[21]
Milan Bojović	Zhetysu	Ordabasy	4–2	14 May 2018	[22]
Marcos Pizzelli	Aktobe	Tobol	3–2	23 June 2018	[23]
Aleksey Shchotkin	Astana	Kyzylzhar	3–0	26 August 2018	[24]