(foto: uradna spletna stran kluba)
Kazakh football has become increasingly familiar to Slovenia in recent years, with the two national teams clashing four times in just over 18 months.
Slovenia won all four encounters, twice in Euro 2024 qualifiers and twice in the UEFA Nations League.
On the club level, the connection is less frequent. Slovenians Jakob Novak (Atyrau) and Matija Rom (Zhenis) currently play in the Kazakh Premier League, while Croatian midfielder Lovro Cvek, who played in Slovenia for clubs like Zavrč, Aluminij, and Celje between 2014 and 2019, now represents Ordabasy. Last season, Kazakh international Ramazan Orazov played for Koper.
Clubs from the two nations have also crossed paths. In 2011, Koper faced Shakhter Karagandy in Europa League qualifiers and lost. In 2015, Maribor failed to advance in Champions League qualifiers against Astana.
Recently, political changes in Kazakhstan have reshaped its football landscape, creating more competition for the championship. Between 2014 and 2019, Astana won six consecutive titles. But after the resignation of long-time leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, Astana lost its privileged status. In the last four years, four different clubs have won the title, and the just-concluded 2023/24 season was no less dramatic.
Five clubs were in the title race: traditional giant Kairat Almaty, state-backed Astana, Aktobe, reigning champions Ordabasy, and Tobol. Adding intrigue, Astana played its home games 1,200 kilometers away in Almaty due to stadium renovations—a peculiar decision, given the availability of closer stadiums.
Controversy marked Astana’s season. In one instance, their Round 17 match was postponed to accommodate their schedule, and they beat Atyrau 1-0 with a highly dubious penalty awarded in the 12th minute of stoppage time. But Astana’s luck ran out in the penultimate round when they lost to Tobol, while Kairat defeated Ordabasy in front of 12,675 fans to take the lead.
The final round came down to two matches. Astana, playing before just 700 spectators in Almaty, demolished Zhetysu 5-0. However, their fate depended on Kairat’s result against Atyrau, 2,000 kilometers away on the Caspian coast. At Atyrau’s Munayši Stadium, renovated with artificial turf five years ago, 5,000 fans witnessed a tense match.
The game’s turning point came in the 57th minute when Brazilian captain João Paulo won a penalty after being fouled by Belarusian defender Nikita Stepanov, who was sent off. Georgian midfielder Giorgi Zaria converted the spot kick, securing Kairat’s 1-0 victory and their fourth Kazakh Premier League title.
Kairat, which played 24 seasons in the Soviet Top League and won Kazakhstan’s inaugural independent title in 1992, has struggled in recent decades. A split within the club in the late 1990s led to two competing teams, Kairat SHPFC and Kairat-CSKA, before they reunited in 2001. More recently, they’ve been overshadowed by Astana. However, the 2022 anti-regime protests that ended Nazarbayev’s era appear to have leveled the playing field, paving the way for Kairat’s resurgence.