# 1997 Kazakhstan Premier League

The 1997 Kazakhstan Top Division was the sixth season of the Top Division, now called the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan.

## Teams

Following the conclusion of the previous season, no teams were promoted or relegated. However Tobol, Munaishy, Kainar and SKIF-Ordabasy all withdrew from the league prior to the start of the season due to financial reasons.
Before the 1997 season started, Kokshe became Avtomobilist, Metallist became Ulytau, Aktobemunai became Aktobe, Tselinnik Akmola became Astana, Shakhter Karagandy became Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet and Vostok became Vostok Adil. Kaisar-Munai became Kaisar-Hurricane half-way through the season, in July.

### Team overview

| Team | Location | Venue |
| Aktobe | Aktobe | Central Stadium |
| Astana | Astana | Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium |
| Avtomobilist | Kokshetau | Torpedo Stadium |
| Batyr | Ekibastuz | Shakhtyor Stadium |
| Bolat | Temirtau | Metallurg Stadium |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | Pavlodar | Central Stadium |
| Kairat | Almaty | Central Stadium |
| Kaisar-Hurricane | Kyzylorda | Gani Muratbayev Stadium |
| Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet | Karaganda | Shakhter Stadium |
| Taraz | Taraz | Central Stadium |
| Ulytau | Jezkazgan | |
| Vostok | Oskemen | Vostok Stadium |
| Yelimay | Semey | Spartak Stadium |
| Zhiger | Shymkent | Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Irtysh Pavlodar (C) | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 46 | 15 | +31 | 56 | Qualification for the Asian Club Championship |
| 2 | Taraz | 26 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 49 | 18 | +31 | 56 | |
| 3 | Kairat | 26 | 16 | 5 | 5 | 52 | 14 | +38 | 53 | |
| 4 | Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet | 26 | 16 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 22 | +18 | 52 | |
| 5 | Vostok Adil | 26 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 42 | 16 | +26 | 50 | |
| 6 | Batyr | 26 | 15 | 2 | 9 | 38 | 22 | +16 | 47 | |
| 7 | Yelimay | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 46 | |
| 8 | Kaisar-Hurricane | 26 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 39 | 23 | +16 | 44 | Qualification for the Asian Cup Winners' Cup |
| 9 | Astana | 26 | 11 | 4 | 11 | 32 | 21 | +11 | 37 | |
| 10 | Zhiger | 26 | 8 | 5 | 13 | 27 | 40 | −13 | 29 | |
| 11 | Avtomobilist | 26 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 23 | 68 | −45 | 15 | |
| 12 | Aktobe (R) | 26 | 4 | 3 | 19 | 16 | 56 | −40 | 15 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
| 13 | Bolat | 26 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 13 | 47 | −34 | 14 | |
| 14 | Ulytau (R) | 26 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 74 | −70 | 4 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
* 1 2 Championship was decided in a decision game.

### Golden match
## Results

| Home \ Away | AKT | AST | AVT | BAT | BOL | IRT | KRT | KSR | SHA | TAR | ULY | VOS | YEL | ZHI |
| Aktobe | | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Astana | 2–0 | | 5–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| Avtomobilist | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–5 | 2–4 | 3–4 |
| Batyr | 2–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Bolat | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–3 | | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 5–1 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Kairat | 7–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 |
| Kaisar-Hurricane | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | | 3–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 |
| Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Taraz | 9–1 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Ulytau | 0–5 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 1–3 | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Vostok Adil | 3–0 | 1–0 | 8–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Yelimay | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | | 3–1 |
| Zhiger | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 2–1 | |
* 1 2 3 4 5 As Aktobe withdrew after 21 games, the remaining 5 games were turned into a 0–3 win for the opponents.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 As Ulytau withdrew after 14 games, the remaining 12 games were turned into a 0–3 win for the opponents.

## Statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Nurken Mazbaev | Taraz | 16 |
| 2 | Vladimir Loginov | Kaisar-Hurricane | 12 |
| 3 | Viktor Zubarev | Irtysh | 10 |
| 3 | Ruslan Duzmambetov | Vostok-Adil | 10 |
| 5 | Bolat Esmagambetov | Yelimay/Irtysh | 9 |
| 6 | Ruslan Imankulov | Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet | 8 |
| 6 | Oleg Litvinenko | Yelimay | 8 |
| 6 | Faizulla Ordabaev | Shakhter-Ispat-Karmet | 8 |
| 9 | Eduard Glazunov | Batyr | 7 |
| 9 | Yuri Zvonarenko | Batyr | 7 |