# 2017 Kazakhstan Premier League

The 2017 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 26th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. Astana are the defending champions having won their third league championship the previous year.
On 23 December 2016, a league format change was announced. The previous system of 22 regular season games followed by 10 games in the championship (top six) or relegation (bottom six) round was discontinued. Instead, the teams played 33 games over three rounds, with at least one home game and one away game against each opponent. These 33 games alone decided the champion, European participants and relegation.

## Teams

FC Zhetysu and FC Taraz were relegated at the end of the 2016 season, and were replaced by FC Kaisar and FC Altai Semey. However, on 3 February 2017, the Football Federation of Kazakhstan ruled that Altai Semey did not meet the required entry requirements for the Premier League, and ruled that FC Taraz will replace them for the 2017 season.

### Team overview

| 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 |
| 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 |

### 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 | Igor Prokhnitsky | | Adidas | — |
| Akzhayik | Artur Avakyants | Predrag Govedarica | Adidas | Expo 2017 |
| Astana | Stanimir Stoilov | Nenad Eric | Adidas | Samruk-Kazyna |
| Atyrau | Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker) | Zhasur Narzikulov | Adidas | — |
| Irtysh | Vyacheslav Hroznyi | David Loria | Nike | ENRC |
| Kairat | Carlos Ferrer | Bauyrzhan Islamkhan | Nike | Expo 2017 |
| Kaisar | Stoycho Mladenov | Maksat Baizhanov | Nike | Expo 2017 |
| Okzhetpes | Viktor Pasulko | Alibek Buleshev | Kappa | Chempionat |
| Ordabasy | Aleksei Petrushin | Azat Nurgaliev | Adidas | Aysu Mineral Water |
| Shakhter | Saulius Širmelis | | Nike | — |
| Taraz | Vait Talgayev | Dmitri Yevstigneyev | Nike | — |
| Tobol | Robert Yevdokimov | | 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 | Player 10 |
| Aktobe | Tomáš Šimkovič | Joseph Nane | Jérémy Faug-Porret | Muarem Muarem | Dušan Savić | Marko Obradović | Slobodan Simović | Kristián Kolčák | Oleksandr Volovyk | |
| Akzhayik | Jhoan Arenas | Denis Glavina | Marko Đurović | Jovan Nikolić | Michael Odibe | Freddy Coronel | Predrag Govedarica | Miroslav Lečić | Kostyantyn Dudchenko | |
| Astana | Ivan Mayewski | Igor Shitov | Marin Aničić | Srđan Grahovac | Junior Kabananga | Marin Tomasov | Patrick Twumasi | László Kleinheisler | Đorđe Despotović | |
| Atyrau | Jure Obšivač | Vladimir Dvalishvili | Ucha Lobjanidze | Jovan Đokić | Novica Maksimović | Predrag Sikimić | Shavkat Salomov | Rizvan Ablitarov | | |
| Irtysh | Rodrigo António | Béko Fofana | Igor Bugaiov | Carlos Fonseca | Mario Maslać | Stefan Živković | Miloš Stamenković | Vladyslav Ohirya | | |
| Kairat | Isael | Ivo Iličević | Ákos Elek | Gerard Gohou | Chuma Anene | Andrey Arshavin | Žarko Marković | César Arzo | Sheldon Bateau | |
| Kaisar | Saidi Ntibazonkiza | Abdel Lamanje | Ivan Graf | Mathias Coureur | Milan Bojović | John Kamara | Volodymyr Arzhanov | Franck Dja Djédjé | | |
| Okzhetpes | Marvin Ogunjimi | Gogita Gogua | Georgas Freidgeimas | Aleksandr Kozlov | Matvei Matveyev | Saša Stamenković | Lucas Horvat | Vitaliy Hoshkoderya | | |
| Ordabasy | Pablo Fontanello | Roger Canas | Preslav Yordanov | Oliver Petrak | Nikita Bocharov | Abdoulaye Diakate | Aleksandar Simčević | Srđan Vujaklija | Kyrylo Kovalchuk | Alexander Geynrikh |
| Shakhter | Jiří Valenta | Jakub Chleboun | Korede Aiyegbusi | Marko Stanojević | Milan Stojanović | Július Szöke | Štefan Zošák | | | |
| Taraz | Mohammed Diarra | Jean-Eudes Maurice | Nemanja Mijušković | Andrei Gorbanets | Yevgeni Shipitsin | Davron Ergashev | Maksym Feshchuk | Malick Mané | | |
| Tobol | Amer Bekić | Azdren Llullaku | Fernander Kassaï | Egon Vuch | Nika Kvekveskiri | Artūras Žulpa | Vanče Šikov | Dmytro Nepohodov | | |
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 | Yuri Utkulbayev | | | Pre-season | Ihor Rakhayev | |
| Atyrau | Stoycho Mladenov | | | Pre-season | Zoran Vulić | 14 December 2016 |
| Kaisar | | | | Pre-season | Stoycho Mladenov | 21 November 2016 |
| Taraz | Yuriy Maksymov | | | Pre-season | Vait Talgayev | 4 January 2017 |
| Ordabasy | Bakhtiyar Bayseitov | | | Pre-season | Aleksei Petrushin | 5 February 2017 |
| Atyrau | Zoran Vulić | Resigned | 11 April 2017 | 12th | Sergei Pavlov | 13 April 2017 |
| Aktobe | Ihor Rakhayev | Sacked | 13 May 2017 | 12th | Igor Prokhnitsky (caretaker) | 13 May 2017 |
| Okzhetpes | Vladimir Mukhanov | Resigned | 17 May 2017 | 8th | Viktor Semenov (caretaker) | 17 May 2017 |
| Aktobe | Igor Prokhnitsky | End of caretaker spell | 24 May 2017 | 12th | Vladimir Mukhanov | 24 May 2017 |
| Okzhetpes | Viktor Semenov | End of caretaker spell | 25 May 2017 | 9th | Viktor Pasulko | 25 May 2017 |
| Shakhter Karagandy | Aleksei Yeryomenko | Fired | 29 May 2017 | 12th | Saulius Širmelis | 2 June 2017 |
| Tobol | Omari Tetradze | Resigned | 27 June 2017 | 5th | Robert Yevdokimov | 7 July 2017 |
| Kairat | Kakhaber Tskhadadze | Resigned | 21 July 2017 | 2nd | Sergei Labodovsky (caretaker) | 23 July 2017 |
| Kairat | Sergei Labodovsky (caretaker) | End of caretaker spell | 26 July 2017 | 2nd | Carlos Ferrer | 26 July 2017 |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | Dimitar Dimitrov | Resigned | 9 August 2017 | 4th | Sergei Klimov (caretaker) | 10 August 2017 |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | Sergei Klimov (caretaker) | End of caretaker spell | 17 August 2017 | 4th | Vyacheslav Hroznyi | 17 August 2017 |
| Atyrau | Sergei Pavlov | Resigned | 21 September 2017 | 11th | Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker) | 21 September 2017 |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Astana (C) | 33 | 25 | 4 | 4 | 74 | 21 | +53 | 79 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Kairat | 33 | 23 | 9 | 1 | 75 | 28 | +47 | 78 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Ordabasy | 33 | 18 | 4 | 11 | 44 | 37 | +7 | 58 | |
| 4 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 33 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 48 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Tobol | 33 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 36 | 26 | +10 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 6 | Kaisar | 33 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 30 | 36 | −6 | 42 | |
| 7 | Shakhter Karagandy | 33 | 12 | 4 | 17 | 36 | 50 | −14 | 40 | |
| 8 | Atyrau | 33 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 34 | 54 | −20 | 35 | |
| 9 | Aktobe | 33 | 8 | 9 | 16 | 38 | 46 | −8 | 33 | |
| 10 | Akzhayik (O) | 33 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 29 | 47 | −18 | 30 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs |
| 11 | Taraz (R) | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 29 | 50 | −21 | 26 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
| 12 | Okzhetpes (R) | 33 | 7 | 3 | 23 | 28 | 61 | −33 | 24 | Relegation to the Kazakhstan First Division |
* ↑ Kairat qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2017 Kazakhstan Cup.
* ↑ Ordabasy would have qualified too, but they failed to obtain a licence, so Tobol took their place.
* ↑ Atyrau started the season with –9 points as a punishment for unpaid debts to former manager Zoran Filipović. On 24 April 2017, Atyrau had six points returned to after they cleared their debt to Filipović, with three points retained due to debts to Jonathas.
* ↑ Taraz had six points deducted as a punishment for unpaid debts to former player Obiora Odita.

## Results
### Games 1–22

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

### Games 23–33

| Home \ Away | AKT | AKZ | AST | ATY | IRT | KRT | KSR | OKZ | ORD | SHA | TAR | TOB |
| Aktobe | — | — | 0–3 | — | — | — | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–0 |
| Akzhayik | 2–2 | — | — | 1–0 | — | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–2 | — | — |
| Astana | — | 2–0 | — | 7–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | — | 4–0 | — | — | 2–0 | — |
| Atyrau | 2–2 | — | — | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | — | — | 3–1 | 3–2 | — |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | — | — | 1–1 | 0–0 | — | — | 1–0 | — | 1–2 |
| Kairat | 3–2 | 2–1 | — | — | — | — | 3–1 | — | 5–1 | 3–1 | — | 2–0 |
| Kaisar | — | — | 1–4 | 4–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | — | 1–0 |
| Okzhetpes | 0–2 | — | — | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | — | — | — | — | 2–1 | — |
| Ordabasy | — | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | — | — | 3–2 | — | — | 1–0 | — |
| Shakhter Karagandy | — | — | 0–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — | — | 1–1 |
| Taraz | 1–0 | 0–1 | — | — | 1–1 | 1–5 | 0–1 | — | — | 2–3 | — | — |
| Tobol | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | — | — | 4–1 | 0–0 | — | 1–1 | — |

## Statistics
### Scoring

* First goal of the season: Aleksey Shchotkin for Tobol against Atyrau (8 March 2017)

### Top scorers

    As of matches played 28 October 2017
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Gerard Gohou | Kairat | 24 |
| 2 | Junior Kabananga | Astana | 19 |
| 3 | Patrick Twumasi | Astana | 13 |
| 4 | Bauyrzhan Islamkhan | Kairat | 11 |
| 5 | Milan Stojanović | Shakhter Karagandy | 10 |
| 5 | Aleksey Shchotkin | Tobol | 10 |
| 7 | Ihar Zyankovich | Aktobe | 9 |
| 7 | Tanat Nusserbayev | Ordabasy | 9 |
| 9 | Srđan Grahovac | Astana | 8 |
| 9 | Isael | Kairat | 8 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Aleksey Shchotkin | Tobol | Atyrau | 3–0 | 8 March 2017 |
| Gerard Gohou | Kairat | Shakhter Karagandy | 4–1 | 8 April 2017 |
| Junior Kabananga | Astana | Shakhter Karagandy | 4–1 | 28 May 2017 |
| Milan Stojanović | Shakhter Karagandy | Taraz | 3–2 | 21 October 2017 |
| Egon Vůch | Tobol | Okzhetpes | 4–1 | 22 October 2017 |