FC Astana

Not to be confused with FC Astana-1964.
Astana
Full name Football Club Astana
Founded 1 January 2009
as FC Lokomotiv Astana[1]
Ground Astana Arena,
Astana, Kazakhstan
Capacity 30,000[2]
Chairman Sayan Khamitzhanov
Manager Stanimir Stoilov
League Kazakhstan Premier League
2014 Kazakhstan Premier League, 1st
Website Club home page

Football Club Astana (Kazakh: Астана Футбол Клубы) is a Kazakh association football club based in Astana that plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League. The club's home ground is the 30,000-seat Astana Arena stadium, where they have played since 2009 mid-season. The club colours, reflected in their badge and kit, are sky blue, yellow and white. Founded as FC Lokomotiv Astana in 2009, the club changed its name to FC Astana in 2011.[3] They are members of the Astana Presidential Sports Club.[4]

The short history of the club already boasts two Kazakhstan Cups that were clinched in 2010 and 2012 and two Kazakhstan Super Cups. In 2014, Astana won their first Kazakhstan Premier League title and qualified for the UEFA Champions League of the following year.

History

Main article: History of FC Astana

The club formed as the result of a merger between FC Alma-Ata and FC Megasport in the beginning of 2009 as FC Lokomotiv Astana.[5] The club has benefited from a high salary role which has enabled them to attract players of status to the club. Andrey Tikhonov and Yegor Titov first of all came from the Russian Football Premier League.[6] Several more followed such as Patrick Ovie and Baffour Gyan. Maksim Shatskikh later arrived from Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Premier League which is again a very high profile capture for the club.[7] The majority of their other players have arrived from other clubs of the Kazakhstan Premier League, mostly on free transfers from the clubs which were absorbed to make the club and several which last year went into bankruptcy. In March 2009, Vakhid Masudov was replaced as interim manager by Sergei Yuran.[8] The club earned silver medals in their first season of play.

In 2010, Holger Fach guided Lokomotiv to their first Kazakhstan Cup success.[9] However, they were ineligible for a UEFA license since they had not yet existed for at least three years.[10] So they were not able to start in 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. On 2 March 2011, Lokomotiv beat Tobol 2–1 and won the Kazakhstan Super Cup for the first time.[11] On 20 May 2011, the club was renamed to FC Astana.[3] In 2012, Miroslav Beránek led Astana to win their second Kazakhstan Cup.[12] In July 2013, the club played in the First qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League against Botev Plovdiv. Astana lost both matches, 0–1 at home and 0–5 away.[13][14] On 4 July 2013, Astana officially joined to newly created Astana Presidential Sports Club, the organization supported by Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna to combine the main sports teams in Astana.[4][15] On 22 June 2014, the club announced that former Botev's manager Stanimir Stoilov appointed as a new head coach.[16] In 2014–15 European campaign, Astana played four ties in the UEFA Europa League qualifying stages. In the first round they beat Pyunik 6–1 on aggregate, then raised more than a few eyebrows in the second round, beating Hapoel Tel Aviv 3–1 on aggregate thanks to a convincing home leg win.[17] The third qualifying round saw Astana cruise AIK, with a 4–1 aggregate score. In play-off round, Astana defeated by Villarreal.[18] In 2014, Astana became Kazakhstan Premier League champions for the first time in its history.[19] On 1 March 2015, Astana won 2015 Kazakhstan Super Cup, beating Kairat 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended with a score of 0–0.[20]

Stadium

Main article: Astana Arena
Astana Arena interior.

FC Astana's stadium is the Astana Arena. The stadium has been Astana's home since the mid of the 2009 season, when the club moved from Kazhimukan Munaitpasov Stadium.[21] The stadium holds 30,000 and has a retractable roof. The inaugural match at the new stadium was a 2–1 win over Kazakhstan national under-21 football team in a friendly match. Match judged famous Italian referee Pierluigi Collina, the symbolic first blow at the ball under his whistle struck the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev. As part of each team, in addition to their regular players, were invited on two “stars”: in the under-21 national team of Kazakhstan – Georgian defender Kakha Kaladze and Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko, and in the Lokomotiv – Turkish players Hasan Şaş and Hakan Şükür. The construction of the stadium costed $185 million.[22] The stadium designed on on an elliptic form by leading sports architects Populous in association with Tabanlioglu Architects.[23] On 31 January 2011, it hosted the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games.[24] It is also serves as the national stadium for Kazakhstan national football team.

Colours and crest

FC Lokomotiv's first home kit used until 2011 season.
Logo used from 2009 to 2011 as FC Lokomotiv.

The team's original crest was implemented in 2009 consisting of the team's name, Footbal Club Lokomotiv Astana, on a blue round frame and a blue coloured letter L in the center, meaning railway track. As the result of renaming in 2011, the club adopted a new crest. The crest consisted team's name with an uppercase letters on an image of the ball. This was accompanied by the words "football club" in Kazakh and Russian languages on the top and bottom of the badge respectively. On 23 January 2013, the club presented a new crest, which was replicated the style and colours of the FC Lokomotiv Astana logo. The crest consisted an image of the ball in the shanyrak style and two Kazakh national patterns on each side.[25] The present club crest was introduced on 10 March 2014, and incorporating the Astana Presidential Sports Club crest's style and colours as well as the BC Astana, Astana Pro Team and Astana Dakar Team.[26] The crest consisting of the team's name, Astana Football Club, under a flying ball.

Blue and white were the club's primary colours, though the team's nickname was the "Blue-and-White". Blue was used to accent the home jersey while white was the main colour of the team's away kit. During the 2012 season, Astana wore yellow and blue striped shirts and blue shorts as home kit and wholly blue away kit. In 2013, they retrieved original colours used from 2009 to 2011. In 2013, the club joined to Astana Presidential Sports Club and adopted its colours. The present club colours are sky blue, yellow and white. The Astana's current shirt sponsor is Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna.[27] The club's first kit sponsorship was from national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy who sponsored the club for a total of 4 years before ending the deal in 2013. The team's kit supplier is Adidas who supplying the club kits since their inception.[27]

Period Kit manufacturer Shirt partner
2009–2014 Adidas Kazakhstan Temir Zholy
2014– Samruk-Kazyna

Honours

League

Winners (1): – 2014
Runners-up (2) – 2009, 2013

Cups

Winners (2) – 2010, 2012
Winners (2): – 2011, 2015
Runners-up (1) – 2013

European record

Matches

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2013–14 UEFA Europa League 1Q Bulgaria Botev Plovdiv 0–1 0–5 0–6
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 1Q Armenia Pyunik 2–0 4–1 6–1
2Q Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv 3–0 0–1 3–1
3Q Sweden AIK 1–1 3–0 4–1
PO Spain Villarreal 0–3 0–4 0–7
2015–16 UEFA Champions League 2Q -

Notes

UEFA Team rank

The following list ranks the currient position of FC Astana in UEFA ranking:

Rank Team Points
307Montenegro FK Budućnost Podgorica3.875
308Norway Vålerenga Fotball3.875
309Kazakhstan FC Astana3.825
310Moldova FC Milsami Orhei3.750
311Serbia OFK Beograd3.725

As of 19 September 2014. Source

Current squad

As of 1 March 2015.[28]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Kazakhstan GK Nenad Erić
2 Kazakhstan DF Yeldos Akhmetov
3 Denmark DF Kasper Larsen (loan from Odense Boldklub)
5 Bosnia and Herzegovina DF Marin Aničić
6 Serbia MF Nemanja Maksimović
7 Kazakhstan MF Ulan Konysbayev
8 Kazakhstan MF Georgy Zhukov (loan from Standard Liège)
9 Kazakhstan FW Aleksey Shchetkin
10 Central African Republic MF Foxi Kéthévoama
12 Kazakhstan DF Igor Pikalkin
13 Kazakhstan DF Berik Shaikhov
14 Kazakhstan MF Ardak Saulet
15 Kazakhstan MF Abzal Beisebekov
No. Position Player
16 Kazakhstan MF Vladislav Mendybayev
17 Kazakhstan FW Tanat Nusserbayev
19 Kazakhstan MF Alexei Rodionov
23 Ghana FW Patrick Twumasi
22 Kazakhstan FW Bauyrzhan Dzholchiev
25 Kazakhstan FW Toktar Zhangylyshbay
28 Kazakhstan DF Birzhan Kulbekov
40 Kazakhstan GK Mikhail Golubnichi
44 Russia DF Evgeni Postnikov
77 Kazakhstan DF Dmitri Shomko
85 Kazakhstan GK Vladimir Loginovskiy
88 Colombia MF Roger Cañas

For recent transfers, see 2015 FC Astana season.

Coaching staff

Current FC Astana manager, Stanimir Stoilov
Position Staff
Manager Bulgaria Stanimir Stoilov
Assistant Manager Kazakhstan Grigori Babayan
First Team Coach Bulgaria Tsanko Tsvetanov
First Team Coach Bulgaria Said Ibraimov
First Team Coach Kazakhstan Arkadi Bakulin
First Team Goalkeeping Coach Kazakhstan Nikolai Rodionov
First Team Fitness Coach Ukraine Evgeni Stukalov
First Team Doctor Belarus Tadeush Perekhod
First Team Physiotherapist Kazakhstan Sergei Babikov
First Massagist Kazakhstan Sergei Larin
First Team Administrator Kazakhstan Alexander Zhitkov

Last updated: 15 August 2014
Source: FC Astana

Notable managers

For more details on this topic, see List of FC Astana managers.

The following managers won at least one trophy when in charge of FC Astana:

Name Period Trophies
Germany Holger Fach 2010–2011 Kazakhstan Cup
Czech Republic Miroslav Beránek 2012–2013 Kazakhstan Cup, Kazakhstan Super Cup
Bulgaria Stanimir Stoilov 2014– Kazakhstan Premier League, Kazakhstan Super Cup

Affiliated clubs

On 11 November 2013 it was announced that FC Astana had partnered with the La Liga team Real Sociedad to cooperate in terms of exchange of skills and knowledge, organization of friendly matches, training camps for youth development and grassroots football.
On 29 April 2014 it was announced that Astana Presidential Sports Club had signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Galatasaray Sports Club. The memorandum chiefly provides for cooperation between the FC Astana and Galatasaray S.K..

References

  1. ↑ "FC Astana .:. Steckbrief". Worldfootball. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "First Division Clubs in Europe" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "FC Lokomotiv renamed to FC Astana". Football Federation of Kazakhstan. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Ilyas Omarov (11 March 2011). "Astana Presidential Sports Club launched". The Astana Times. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Richard Orange (4 July 2013). "Kazakh president's grandson joins Astana football team". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Mikhail Kozachkov (2 May 2009). "Tikhonov and Titov happy in Kazakhstan". UEFA. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  7. ↑ Mikhail Kozachkov (22 June 2009). "Shatskikh aiming to go far with Lokomotiv". UEFA. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  8. ↑ Mikhail Kozachkov (4 March 2009). "Локомотив" назначил Юрана [Lokomotiv appointed Yuran] (in Russian). UEFA. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  9. ↑ Mikhail Kozachkov (14 November 2010). "Lokomotiv win Kazakh Cup for first time". UEFA. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "The European Club Footballing Landscape; Club Licensing Benchmarking Report Financial Year 2010" (PDF). UEFA. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ↑ Mikhail Kozachkov (4 March 2011). "Lokomotiv Astana ready for Kazakh openers". UEFA. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "Astana FC is going to replace Beranek". TengriNews.kz. 1 January 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Astana 0-1 Botev Plovdiv". UEFA. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Botev Plovdiv 5-0 Astana". UEFA. 11 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "In Astana, there was presented a new multi-sport club "Astana"". Samruk-Kazyna. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
  16. ↑ "New coach of FC Astana named". Kazinform. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  17. ↑ Heath Chesters (8 August 2014). "Real Sociedad head to Russia, Villarreal to Kazakhstan in the Europa League". insidespanishfootball.com. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  18. ↑ "Villarreal devastate FC Astana in UEFA Europa League play-offs". Kazinform. 29 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  19. ↑ Aidyn Kozhakhmetov (1 November 2014). "Astana celebrating winning first Kazakh title". UEFA. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  20. ↑ "FC Astana defeat FC Kairat in 2015 Super Cup". Kazinform. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Astana Arena". stadiumguide.com. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  22. ↑ "Sembol’s $185m Astana stadium opens". kazworld.info. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  23. ↑ "Astana Arena – Kazakhstan Stadium Building". e-architect.co.uk. 6 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  24. ↑ "Astana’s new stadium ready to host games". hurriyet.com.tr. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  25. ↑ У футбольного клуба «Астана» изменилась эмблема [FC Astana changed its emblem] (in Russian). zakon.kz. 23 January 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  26. ↑ ФК «Астана» презентовал новый состав, форму и логотип [FC Astana presented new squad, kits and logo] (in Russian). Kazinform. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Спонсоры и партнеры [Sponsors and partners] (in Russian). FC Astana. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  28. ↑ "Основной состав" [First Team Squad]. FC Astana. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  29. ↑ "Real Sociedad y FC Astana firman un acuerdo de colaboración" [Real Sociedad and FC Astana signed a collaboration agreement] (in Spanish). Real Sociedad. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  30. ↑ "Galatasaray, Astana sports clubs plan to step up cooperation". Kazinform. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.

External links

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