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 sponsorAktobe Igor Prokhnitsky Adidas —Akzhayik Artur Avakyants Predrag Govedarica Adidas Expo 2017Astana Stanimir Stoilov Nenad Eric Adidas Samruk-KazynaAtyrau Kuanysh Kabdulov (caretaker) Zhasur Narzikulov Adidas —Irtysh Vyacheslav Hroznyi David Loria Nike ENRCKairat Carlos Ferrer Bauyrzhan Islamkhan Nike Expo 2017Kaisar Stoycho Mladenov Maksat Baizhanov NikeExpo 2017Okzhetpes Viktor Pasulko Alibek Buleshev Kappa ChempionatOrdabasy Aleksei Petrushin Azat Nurgaliev Adidas Aysu Mineral WaterShakhter 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.

ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6Player 7Player 8Player 9Player 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 Zoran Vulić 14 December 2016 Kaisar Stoycho Mladenov 21 November 2016 Taraz Yuriy Maksymov Vait Talgayev 4 January 2017 Ordabasy Bakhtiyar Bayseitov 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 2017https://fctobol.kz/tobol-vozglavil-robert-evdokimov.html 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

Results Games 1–22

Games 23–33

Relegation play-offs

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

Top scorers UEFA.com RankPlayerClubGoals1 Gerard GohouKairat242 Junior KabanangaAstana193 Patrick TwumasiAstana134 Bauyrzhan IslamkhanKairat115 Milan StojanovićShakhter Karagandy10 Aleksey ShchotkinTobol7 Ihar ZyankovichAktobe9 Tanat NusserbayevOrdabasy9 Srđan GrahovacAstana8 IsaelKairat

Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref. Aleksey ShchotkinTobolAtyrau3–0 Gerard GohouKairatShakhter Karagandy4–1 Junior KabanangaAstanaShakhter Karagandy4–1 Milan StojanovićShakhter KaragandyTaraz3–2 Egon VůchTobolOkzhetpes4–1

Awards Annual awards Award Winner Club Premier League Player of the Year Gerard Gohou Kairat Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year David Loriya Irtysh Premier League Young Player of the Year Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov Taraz Premier League Manager of the Year Stanimir Stoilov Astana Premier League Top Scorer Gerard Gohou Kairat Team of the Year The Kazakhstan Premier League Team of the Year was selected by the Kazakhstan Professional Football League (PFLK) based on votes submitted by the head coaches of the league's clubs. The votes were analyzed, summed and combined into a single symbolic squad of 22 players.

Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards David Loriya Nenad Erić Marin Aničić César Arzo Yury Logvinenko Pablo Fontanello Igor Shitov Abzal Beysebekov Dmitry Shomko Gafurzhan Suyumbayev Ivan Mayewski Islambek Kuat Patrick Twumasi Isael Andrey Arshavin Carlos Fonseca Gerard Gohou Junior Kabananga Aleksey Shchyotkin Tanat Nuserbayev

Attendances

# Club Average 1 Kairat 9,029 2 Aktobe 7,319 3 Astana 4,765 4 Ordabasy 4,306 5 Taraz 3,582 6 Tobol 3,479 7 Irtysh 3,400 8 Atyrau 3,375 9 Kaysar 2,534 10 Akzhaiyk 2,375 11 Shakhter 1,675 12 Okzhetpes 888

Source:

References

External links Official website