The 2026 Kazakhstan Premier League is the 35th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan.

Contents

• Overview
• Teams
• Team overview
• Personnel and kits
• Foreign players
• Managerial changes
• Regular season
• League table
• Results
• Season statistics
• Top scorers
• Top assist
• Clean sheets
• Discipline
• References
• External links

Overview

For the 2026 season, the Kazakhstan Premier League will expand from 14 to 16 teams. This expansion was officially ratified by the Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) and the Professional Football League of Kazakhstan (QFL) as part of a long-term strategy to increase the professionalization of the sport and enhance regional representation across the country. ^[1]

To facilitate the increase in participants, a specific promotion and relegation format was applied to the 2025 season:

• Only one team (the bottom-placed club) was relegated from the Premier League to the First Division. ^[2]
• The top three teams from the Kazakhstan First Division earned direct promotion to the Premier League for 2026. ^[3]

The expansion marks a return to a larger league format, which was previously reduced due to infrastructure and financial licensing requirements. Under the new 16-team structure, the KFF has introduced stricter stadium and financial criteria to ensure the sustainability of the newly promoted clubs. ^[4]

Teams

Following the conclusion of the 2025 season, Turan were the only club relegated to the Kazakhstan First Division after finishing in 14th place (last). This limited relegation was a one-time adjustment to allow for the league's expansion from 14 to 16 teams for the 2026 campaign. ^[5]

To fill the expanded roster, three clubs were promoted from the Kazakhstan First Division:

• Caspiy – The champions of the 2025 First Division, returning to the top flight after a two-year absence.
• Irtysh Pavlodar – The runners-up, marking the historic return of the five-time Kazakhstan champions to the Premier League. ^[6]
• Altai – The third-place finishers, securing the final promotion slot under the new expansion rules. ^[7]

Team overview

Aktobe

Altai

Astana

Atyrau

Elimai

Irtysh

Jenis

Caspiy

Kairat

Kaisar

Kyzylzhar

Okzhetpes

Ordabasy

Tobol

Ulytau

Zhetysu

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Locations of teams in the 2026 Kazakhstan Premier League

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity
Altai	Oskemen	Vostok Stadium	8,500
Aktobe	Aktobe	Central Stadium	12,729
Astana	Astana	Astana Arena	30,200
Atyrau	Atyrau	Munaishy Stadium	8,900
Elimai	Semey	Spartak Stadium	8,000
Jenis	Astana	Astana Arena	30,200
Irtysh	Pavlodar	Central Stadium	12,000
Kairat	Almaty	Central Stadium	23,804
Kaisar	Kyzylorda	Gany Muratbayev Stadium	7,500
Kyzylzhar	Petropavl	Karasai Stadium	11,000
Okzhetpes	Kokshetau	Torpedo Stadium	4,100
Ordabasy	Shymkent	Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium	20,000
Tobol	Kostanay	Central Stadium	9,500
Ulytau	Jezkazgan	Metallurg Stadium	2,500
Zhetysu	Taldykorgan	Samat Suyumbayev 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	Nikolay Kostov	Alibek Kasym	Adidas	Olimpbet, Kazchrome, A'su
Altay Oskemen	Vakhid Masudov	Sergey Khizhnichenko	TBD	TBD
Astana	Grigori Babayan	Abzal Beisebekov [8]	Adidas	Samruk Kazyna, Olimpbet, Okadzaki, Miglior, SportQory
Atyrau	Vitaly Zhukovsky	Igor Stasevich	Macron	Olimpbet, A'su, Dodo Pizza
Elimai	Andrey Karpovich	Maksym Koval	Puma	Altay Resurs
Irtysh	Kirill Alshevsky	Nikita Kalmykov	TBD	TBD
Jenis	Ali Aliyev	Islambek Kuat	Joma	Freedom Bank
Kairat	Rafael Urazbakhtin	Alyaksandr Martynovich	Joma	1XBET, KNK Kemikal, EcoAlmaty, Alex Saryagash
Kaisar	Andrey Ferapontov	Duman Narzildayev	Adidas	Biali, Olimpbet, A'su
Kaspiy	Ruslan Esatov	Yerkebulan Nurgaliyev	TBD	TBD
Kyzylzhar	Milić Ćurčić	Oleksandr Noyok	Kelme	None
Okzhetpes	Rinat Alyuetov	Niyaz Idrisov	Jako	None
Ordabasy	Andrei Martin	Sultanbek Astanov	Puma	Olimpbet
Tobol	Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev	Roman Asrankulov	Macron	Solidcore Resources, Olimpbet
Ulytau	Nurken Mazbayev	Demiyat Slambekov	Cikers	Kazakhmys
Zhetysu	Kairat Nurdauletov	Berik Shaykhov	Adidas	None

Foreign players

The number of foreign players is restricted to thirteen per KPL team squad of 25 players.

Foreign players in the KPL as of 18 January 2026.

For transfers during the season, see Winter 2025–26 transfers and Summer 2026 transfers.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Player 9	Player 10	Player 11	Player 12	Player 13	Former players
Aktobe	Pibe	Nikita Korzun	Daniel Sosah	Mario Rabiu	Nani	Ajdin Zeljković	Ivan Ordets
Altai
Astana	Nazmi Gripshi	Ivan Bašić	Karlo Bartolec	Josip Čondrić	Branimir Kalaica	Marin Tomasov	Ousmane Camara	Kipras Kažukolovas	Aleksa Amanović	Nnamdi Ahanonu
Atyrau	Ruslan Khadarkevich	Yegor Khatkevich	Vasily Sovpel	Igor Stasevich	Ruslan Yudenkov	Tsvetelin Chunchukov	Joel Kayamba	Rashid Abubakar	Goran Milojko	Konstantin Dorofeyev	Luka Zgurski	Dmytro Ryzhuk
Caspiy
Elimai	Edison Ndreca	Yevgeny Beryozkin	Marin Belančić	Hrvoje Ilić	Ivan Miladinović	Euloge Placca Fessou
Irtysh Pavlodar
Kairat	Sebastián Zeballos	Alyaksandr Martynovich	Lucas Áfrico	Edmilson	Ricardinho	Jaakko Oksanen	Dan Glazer	Jorginho	Luís Mata					Valery Gromyko Yegor Sorokin
Kaisar	Thomas Jones	Victor Moses	Nikola Cuckić	Adam Kovac
Kyzylzhar	Damjan Krajišnik	Néné Gbamblé	Dumitru Celeadnic	Yevhen Makarenko'	Anatoliy Kozlenko	Oleksandr Noyok
Okzhetpes	Enzo	Strahinja Jovanović
Ordabasy	Alan Dias	Everton Moraes	Luka Imnadze	Victor Mudrac	Mihai Căpățînă	Vladyslav Naumets	Yuriy Vakulko
Tobol	Victor Braga	Henrique Devens	Pape-Alioune Ndiaye	Tsotne Mosiashvili	Amine Talal	Nemanja Cavnić	Marko Vukčević	Ededem Essien	Luis Guerra
Ulytau	Piruz Marakvelidze	Kotaro Kishi	Jovan Pajović	Georgi Bugulov	José Carrillo	Yaroslav Terekhov	Beka Vachiberadze	Dmytro Yusov
Zhenis	Maksim Plotnikov	Vsevolod Sadovsky	Ivan Šaravanja	Adílio	Gian Martins	Elguja Lobjanidze	Zurab Tevzadze	Razak Abalora	Rui Batalha	Matija Rom
Zhetysu	Maksim Kovel	Meik Karwot	Raphael Success	Alan Chochiyev	Denis Kavlinov	Soslan Takulov	Maksim Zhitnev	Mohamed Buya Turay	Saidu Fofanah

In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team. In Italic: Players that joined in mid-season

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Zhetysu	Samat Smakov	End of contract	14 November 2025	Pre-season	Kayrat Nurdauletov	17 December 2025
Kyzylzhar	Milić Ćurčić	End of contract	31 December 2025		Ali Aliyev	5 January 2026
Atyrau	Kuanysh Kabdulov	End of interim spell	1 December 2025		Vitaly Zhukovsky	1 January 2026

Regular season

Season statistics

References

External links

• Official website (in Kazakh and Russian)