2016 Kazakhstan Premier League

Kazakhstan Premier League

Season	2016
Champions	Astana (3rd title)
Relegated	Zhetysu Taraz
Champions League	Astana
Europa League	Kairat Irtysh Pavlodar Ordabasy
Matches played	192
Goals scored	491 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gerard Gohou (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Kairat 6–0 Okzhetpes (21 May 2016) [1]
Biggest away win	Shakhter Karagandy 0–5 Kairat (11 June 2016) [2] Akzhayik 0–5 Tobol (24 July 2016) [3]
Highest scoring	Aktobe 2–6 Kairat (19 June 2016) [4] Aktobe 4–4 Ordabasy (13 August 2016) [5]
← 2015 2017 →

The 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 25th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. Astana were the defending champions having won their second league championship the previous year, and they successfully defended their title this season. The season began on 12 March 2016 and concluded on 29 October 2016; the relegation play-off took place on 5 November 2016.

Teams

FC Kaisar was relegated at the end of the 2015 season, and was replaced by Akzhayik.

Team overview

Aktobe

Akzhayik

Atyrau

Irtysh

Kairat

Astana

Okzhetpes

Ordabasy

Shakhter

Taraz

Tobol

Zhetysu

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Locations of teams in the 2016 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
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
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	Yuri Utkulbayev		Lotto	—
Akzhayik	Artur Avakyants	Predrag Govedarica	Adidas	Expo 2017
Astana	Stanimir Stoilov	Tanat Nusserbayev	Adidas	Samruk-Kazyna
Atyrau	Stoycho Mladenov	Zhasur Narzikulov	Adidas	—
Irtysh	Dimitar Dimitrov	David Loria	Nike	ENRC
Kairat	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Nike	Expo 2017
Okzhetpes	Vladimir Mukhanov	Alibek Buleshev	Adidas	Chempionat
Ordabasy	Bakhtiyar Bayseitov	Azat Nurgaliev	Adidas	TAU
Shakhter	Aleksei Yeryomenko	Maksat Baizhanov	Adidas	—
Taraz	Yuriy Maksymov	Dmitri Yevstigneyev	Adidas	—
Tobol	Omari Tetradze	Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev	Adidas	—
Zhetysu	Almas Kulshinbaev	Andrey Pasechenko	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
Aktobe	Lassina Dao	Kouassi Kouadja	Nikita Bocharov	Dmitry Golubov	Marat Sitdikov	Sandro Tsveiba	Vuk Mitošević	Ilya Mikhalyov
Akzhayik	Saša Kolunija	Matías Rubio	Michael Odibe	Freddy Coronel	Miroslav Lečić	Danilo Nikolić	Srđan Ostojić	Predrag Govedarica
Astana	Igor Shitov	Marin Aničić	Roger Cañas	Junior Kabananga	Patrick Twumasi	Agim Ibraimi	Đorđe Despotović	Nemanja Maksimović
Atyrau	Aleksandr Makas	Guy Essame	Abdel Lamanje	Aleksandar Damčevski	Przemysław Trytko	Alexandru Curtean	Volodymyr Arzhanov	Vyacheslav Sharpar
Irtysh	Semir Kerla	Ignacio Herrera	Tomáš Jirsák	Ousman Jallow	Georgas Freidgeimas	Carlos Fonseca	Djiby Fall
Kairat	Isael	Léandre Tawamba	Gerson Acevedo	Gerard Gohou	Andrey Arshavin	Žarko Marković	César Arzo	Anatoliy Tymoshchuk
Okzhetpes	Joseph Nane	Serge Bando N'Ganbe	Nicolás Canales	Daniil Chertov	Vitali Volkov	Risto Ristović	Saša Stamenković	Oleksandr Chyzhov
Ordabasy	Edin Junuzović	Gogita Gogua	Filip Kasalica	Dominic Chatto	Abdoulaye Diakate	Aleksandar Simčević	Branislav Trajković	Alexander Geynrikh
Shakhter	Robert Arzumanyan	Ivan Sadownichy	Nikola Vasiljević	Marko Simonovski	Desley Ubbink	Filip Serečin	Július Szöke	Štefan Zošák
Taraz	Ioan Mera	Anton Grigoryev	Malick Mané	Davron Ergashev	Oleksandr Aliyev	Oleksandr Pyschur	Andriy Yakovlyev
Tobol	Tomáš Šimkovič	Fernander Kassaï	Denis Glavina	Artūras Žulpa	Dušan Savić	Ciprian Deac	Shamil Asildarov	Serhiy Yavorskyi
Zhetysu	Narek Beglaryan	Martin Klein	Mamadou Wague	Marko Đalović	Dejan Djermanović	Artem Kasyanov

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	Ioan Andone	Mutual consent	10 November 2015 [6]	Pre-season	Yuri Utkulbayev	22 December 2015 [7]
Taraz	Evgeny Yarovenko	Mutual consent	11 November 2015 [8]		Nurmat Mirzabayev
Kairat	Vladimír Weiss	Mutual consent	30 November 2015 [9]		Aleksandr Borodyuk	28 December 2015 [10]
Shakhter	Ihor Zakhariak				Jozef Vukušič	8 January 2016 [11]
Tobol	Sergey Maslenov				Dmitriy Ogai	23 December 2015
Zhetysu	Ivan Azovskiy				Almas Kulshinbaev	5 January 2016 [12]
Kairat	Aleksandr Borodyuk	Resigned	5 April 2016 [13]	9th	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	7 April 2016 [14]
Tobol	Dmitriy Ogai	Mutual consent	28 April 2016 [15]	5th
Taraz	Nurmat Mirzabayev		15 May 2016	12th	Yuriy Maksymov	15 May 2016 [16]
Shakhter Karagandy	Jozef Vukušič	Resigned	3 August 2016 [17]	11th	Aleksei Yeryomenko	4 August 2016 [18]

Regular season

In the regular season twelve teams played each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 22 matches per team. The top six teams advanced to the Championship round and the bottom six teams qualified for the Relegation round. ^[19]

Regular season table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Astana	22	17	2	3	34	14	+20	53	Qualification for the championship round
2	Kairat	22	14	4	4	50	22	+28	46
3	Irtysh Pavlodar	22	12	5	5	37	18	+19	41
4	Okzhetpes	22	11	4	7	33	23	+10	37
5	Ordabasy	22	9	6	7	26	27	−1	33
6	Aktobe	22	7	7	8	23	32	−9	28 [a]
7	Atyrau	22	7	7	8	21	23	−2	28 [a]	Qualification for the relegation round
8	Tobol	22	8	4	10	28	26	+2	28 [a]
9	Zhetysu	22	6	5	11	22	32	−10	23
10	Shakhter Karagandy	22	5	6	11	10	27	−17	21
11	Taraz	22	5	4	13	22	30	−8	19
12	Akzhayik	22	3	2	17	12	44	−32	11

Source: UEFA.com, 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. ^[20]
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record: Aktobe (7 points), Atyrau (5 points), Tobol (4 points).

Regular season results

Home \ Away	AKT	AKZ	AST	ATY	IRT	KRT	OKZ	ORD	SHA	TAR	TOB	ZHE
Aktobe		1–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–6	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–2	0–1	3–2
Akzhayik	0–0		1–5	0–4	0–3	2–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–5	1–2
Astana	1–0	2–0		2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0
Atyrau	1–1	2–0	1–0		0–1	0–1	2–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0
Irtysh Pavlodar	4–1	0–0	2–2	3–0		2–3	1–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–1	3–1
Kairat	3–0	3–2	1–0	5–2	1–0		6–0	2–2	0–0	3–1	3–2	2–0
Okzhetpes	4–1	4–2	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–1		2–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–0
Ordabasy	3–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–2		2–0	0–3	2–2	0–1
Shakhter Karagandy	0–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	0–5	0–1	0–0		0–1	1–0	0–0
Taraz	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–3	1–2	1–2		2–0	2–3
Tobol	1–2	1–0	1–2	1–2	3–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	3–0	1–0		2–2
Zhetysu	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–1	1–4	1–2	2–0	2–1	0–1

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

Championship round

The top six teams from the regular season will participate in the Championship round where they will play each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to the previous season, teams will carry forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Championship round the winners will be the Champions of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League and qualify for 2017–18 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. The runners-up and third-placed team will qualify for Europa League first qualifying round and the fourth-placed team will also qualify for Europa League because one of the top three teams will win the 2016 Kazakhstan Cup. ^[19]

Championship round table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Astana (C)	32	23	4	5	47	21	+26	73	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round [a]
2	Kairat	32	22	5	5	75	30	+45	71	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Irtysh Pavlodar	32	14	7	11	52	36	+16	49
4	Ordabasy	32	13	9	10	41	44	−3	48
5	Okzhetpes	32	13	6	13	42	44	−2	45
6	Aktobe	32	9	9	14	37	52	−15	36

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion when two teams are tied); 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head matches won; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goals scored; 7) Head-to-head away goals scored; 8) Goal difference; 9) Matches won; 10) Goals scored; 11) Away goals scored; 12) Draw. ^[21]
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Astana qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016 Kazakhstan Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.

Championship round results

Home \ Away	AKT	AST	IRT	KRT	OKZ	ORD
Aktobe		1–2	1–0	0–1	2–2	4–4
Astana	1–0		3–0	1–4	3–0	2–0
Irtysh Pavlodar	5–1	0–0		1–3	0–2	1–2
Kairat	3–1	2–0	2–1		5–0	1–1
Okzhetpes	0–3	0–0	1–4	1–3		3–0
Ordabasy	2–1	0–1	3–3	2–1	1–0

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

Relegation round

The worst six teams from the regular season participated in the Relegation round where they played each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to the previous season, teams carried forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Relegation round the winners are considered the 7th-placed team of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League, the runners-up being 8th and so on, with the last team being 12th. The 11th-placed team, Taraz, qualified for the relegation play-off against Altai Semey, the runners-up of 2016 Kazakhstan First Division, with the losing team being eliminated, and the 12th-placed team, Zhetysu, will be directly relegated to 2017 Kazakhstan First Division as the last-placed team. ^[19]

Relegation round table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Relegation
7	Tobol	32	12	5	15	40	40	0	41
8	Atyrau	32	10	9	13	35	39	−4	39
9	Shakhter Karagandy	32	10	6	16	25	40	−15	36
10	Akzhayik	32	11	2	19	27	50	−23	35 [a]
11	Taraz	32	10	5	17	33	42	−9	35 [a]	Qualification for the relegation play-offs [b]
12	Zhetysu (R)	32	8	7	17	37	53	−16	31	Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division

Source: 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. ^[22]
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record; Taraz–Akzhayik 0–1, Akzhayik–Taraz 2–1, Akzhayik–Taraz 2–0, Taraz–Akzhayik 2–1.
2. Despite finishing 11th and losing the relegation playoffs, Taraz were readmitted because only one team was given a license.

Relegation round results

Home \ Away	AKZ	ATY	SHA	TAR	TOB	ZHE
Akzhayik		3–1	1–2	2–0	1–0	1–0
Atyrau	1–2		2–0	1–0	3–0	3–3
Shakhter Karagandy	0–1	3–0		1–0	2–3	4–1
Taraz	2–1	1–0	2–1		2–1	3–2
Tobol	0–1	0–0	2–0	3–1		3–2
Zhetysu	0–2	4–3	1–2	0–0	2–0

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

Relegation play-offs

Taraz v Altai Semey

5 November 2016 (2016-11-05)	Taraz	0–3	Altai Semey	Astana
14:00 (UTC+6)		Report	Shakin 4' Shaff 45' (pen.) Nurgaliyev 51'	Stadium: Astana Arena Attendance: 2,500 Referee: Artyom Kuchin

Altai Semey are promoted to the 2017 Kazakhstan Premier League; Taraz are relegated to the 2017 Kazakhstan First Division.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played 29 October 2016 ^[23]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Gerard Gohou	Kairat	22
2	Roman Murtazayev	Irtysh Pavlodar	18
3	Bauyrzhan Islamkhan	Kairat	17
4	Malick Mané	Taraz	13
5	Dušan Savić	Zhetysu	12
	Azat Nurgaliev	Ordabasy/Astana
7	Sergei Khizhnichenko	Tobol	10
	Alexander Geynrikh	Ordabasy
9	Serge Bando N'Ganbe	Okzhetpes	9
10	Marat Khairullin	Okzhetpes	8
	Đorđe Despotović	Astana
	Andrey Arshavin	Kairat
	Volodymyr Arzhanov	Atyrau
	Tomáš Šimkovič	Tobol
	Freddy Coronel	Akzhayik

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Dušan Savić	Zhetysu	Taraz	3–2	15 June 2016	[24]
Alexander Geynrikh	Ordabasy	Aktobe	4–4	13 August 2016	[25]
Malick Mané	Taraz	Zhetysu	3–2	10 September 2016	[26]

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Ulan Konysbayev for Atyrau against Zhetysu (12 March 2016)
• Fastest goal of the season: 1st minute,
  • Raul Jalilov for Tobol against Zhetysu (23 April 2016) ^[27]
• Latest goal of the season: 90+4th minute,
  • Alassane N'Diaye for Tobol against Taraz (1 May 2016) ^[28]
  • Marat Khairullin for Okzhetpes against Zhetysu (10 May 2016) ^[29]

References

1. "KAIRAT VS. OKZHETPES 6 - 0". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
2. "SHAKHTER KARAGANDY VS. KAIRAT 0 - 5". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
3. "AKZHAYIK VS. TOBOL 0 - 5". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
4. "AKTOBE VS. KAIRAT 2 - 6". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
5. "AKTOBE VS. ORDABASY 4 - 4". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
6. По обоюдному согласию. fc-aktobe.kz/ (in Russian). FC Aktobe. 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
7. Юрий Уткульбаев представлен коллективу. fc-aktobe.kz/ (in Russian). FC Aktobe. 22 December 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2015.
8. Яровенко покидает Тараз. sports.kz/ (in Russian). sports.kz. 11 November 2015. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
9. Трудовые отношения ФК Кайрат и Владимира Вайсса подошли к концу. fckairat.kz/ (in Russian). FC Kairat. 30 November 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
10. "Александр Бородюк – главный тренер ФК Кайрат". www.fckairat.kz/ (in Russian). FC Kairat. 28 December 2015. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
11. "ЙОЗЕФ ВУКУШИЧ – ГЛАВНЫЙ ТРЕНЕР ФК ШАХТЕР". shahter.kz (in Russian). FC Shakhter Karagandy. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
12. "Алмас Кулшинбаев — главный тренер Жетысу". www.sports.kz/ (in Russian). sports.kz. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
13. АЛЕКСАНДР БОРОДЮК РАСТОРГ КОНТРАКТ С ФК КАЙРАТ. fckairat.kz (in Russian). FC Kairat. 5 April 2016. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
14. Кахабер Цхададзе – главный тренер Кайрата. fckairat.kz (in Russian). FC Kairat. 7 April 2016. Archived from the original on 18 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
15. Дмитрий Огай оставил пост главного тренера. fc-tobol.kz (in Russian). FC Tobol. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-05-05. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
16. Юрий Максимов — новый главный тренер Тараза
17. ВУКУШИЧ ПОКИНУЛ ПОСТ ГЛАВНОГО ТРЕНЕРА. shahter.kz (in Russian). FC Shakhter Karagandy. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
18. ЕРЕМЕНКО НАЗНАЧЕН ГЛАВНЫМ ТРЕНЕРОМ. shahter.kz (in Russian). FC Shakhter Karagandy. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2016.
19. "Premier League 2016 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
20. "РЕГЛАМЕНТ ЧЕМПИОНАТА НА 2016 год" [Championship Regulations for 2016](PDF). pflk.kz. Kazakhstan Premier League. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
21. "РЕГЛАМЕНТ ЧЕМПИОНАТА НА 2016 год" [Championship Regulations for 2016](PDF). pflk.kz. Kazakhstan Premier League. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
22. "РЕГЛАМЕНТ ЧЕМПИОНАТА НА 2016 год" [Championship Regulations for 2016](PDF). pflk.kz. Kazakhstan Premier League. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
23. UEFA.com
24. "Taraz 2-3 Zhetysu". soccerway.com. Soccerway. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
25. "Aktobe 4-4 Ordabasy". soccerway.com. Soccerway. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
26. "Tarz 3-2 Zhetysu". soccerway.com. Soccerway. 11 September 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
27. "Tobol 2-2 Zhetysu". soccerway.com. Soccerway. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
28. "Tobol 1-0 Taraz". soccerway.com. Soccerway. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
29. "Zhetysu 1-4 Okzhetpes". soccerway.com. Soccerway. Retrieved 19 June 2016.

External links

• Official website (in Kazakh and Russian)