Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

FC Astana

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Full name
  
Football Club Astana

Ground
  
Astana Arena

General Manager
  
Sayan Khamitzhanov

Location
  
Astana, Kazakhstan

Owner
  
Samruk-Kazyna

Manager
  
Stanimir Stoilov

Nickname(s)
  
The Blue and Yellows

Ground Capacity
  
30,000

Arena/Stadium
  
Astana Arena

League
  
Kazakhstan Premier League

Founded
  
2009


2016
  
Kazakhstan Premier League, 1st

Profiles

Football Club Astana (Kazakh: «Астана» футбол клубы), commonly referred to as FC Astana or simply Astana, is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. 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 and yellow. Founded as Lokomotiv Astana in 2009, the club changed its name to Astana in 2011. They are members of the Astana Presidential Sports Club, an association of the main sports teams in Astana supported by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna.

Contents

The short history of the club already boasts three league titles, three Kazakhstan Cups and two Kazakhstan Super Cups. In 2015, Astana qualified to the UEFA Champions League group stage, becoming the first Kazakh team to do so.

Fc astana best kazakhstan club 2014 2015


Founding and first years (2009–2014)

On 27 December 2008, football clubs from Almaty Megasport and Alma-Ata announced they would merge to found a new club. The club named "FC Lokomotiv Astana" inasmuch as the National Railway Company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy became a general sponsor. Kazakhstan Temir Zholy in cooperation with City Council of Astana decided to rebase the club to the new building stadium in the capital of Kazakhstan. Vakhid Masudov became the first head coach in a club history. 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. 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. 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.

On 8 March 2009, Lokomotiv played in the league's inaugural match against the Kazakhmys in Satbayev. In March 2009, Vakhid Masudov was replaced by Vladimir Gulyamkhaidarov. However, only two days after his appointment he was replaced by Russian specialist Sergei Yuran. The club earned silver medals in their first season of play. On 14 November 2010, Holger Fach guided Astana to their first Kazakhstan Cup success. However, they were ineligible for a UEFA license since they had not yet existed for at least three years. So they were not able to start in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. On 2 March 2011, Astana beat Tobol 2–1 and won the Kazakhstan Super Cup for the first time. In 2012, Miroslav Beránek led Astana to win their second Kazakhstan Cup. In July 2013, the club made a debut in Europe playing 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. On 4 July 2013, Astana officially joined to newly created Astana Presidential Sports Club, the organization supported by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna to combine the main sports teams in Astana.

First title and Stoilov years (2014–)

On 22 June 2014, the club announced that former Botev Plovdiv manager Stanimir Stoilov was appointed as a new head coach. 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. The third qualifying round saw Astana cruise AIK, with a 4–1 aggregate score. In play-off round, Astana was defeated by Villarreal. On 1 November 2014, Astana became Kazakhstan Premier League champions for the first time in its history, securing the championship with a 3–0 home win against Kaisar.

On 1 March 2015, Astana won the 2015 Kazakhstan Super Cup, beating Kairat 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended with a score of 0–0. On 26 August 2015, the club became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, after beating APOEL 2–1 on aggregate in play-off round. They were drawn into the Group C alongside Benfica, Atlético Madrid and Galatasaray, where they managed to obtain four points in six games after a four draws and two losses. On 8 November 2015, Astana clinched their second Kazakhstan Premier League title beating Aktobe 1–0 at home in the last tour game. On 9 December 2015, the club extended contract with Stanimir Stoilov for the next two years.

In 2016 season, Astana was eliminated from UEFA Champions League after two stages, being defeated by Celtic in the third qualifying round. However, the club qualified to UEFA Europa League group stage, beating BATE in the play-off round. On 26 October 2016, Astana won third straight championship under Stoilov rule. On 19 November 2016, the club won 2016 Kazakhstan Cup defeating Kairat 1–0.

European

Notes
  • 1QR: First qualifying round
  • 2QR: Second qualifying round
  • 3QR: Third qualifying round
  • PO: Play-off round
  • GS: Group stage
  • UEFA club ranking

    The following list ranks the current position of Astana in UEFA club ranking:

    As of 24 November 2016.

    Stadium

    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 the Kazhymukan Munaitpasov Stadium. 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. The stadium designed on an elliptic form by leading sports architects Populous in association with Tabanlioglu Architects. On 31 January 2011, it hosted the opening ceremony of the 7th Asian Winter Games. It is also serves as the national stadium for the Kazakhstan national football team.

    Colours and crest

    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 crest. On 23 January 2013, the club presented a new crest, which was replicated the style and colours of the Lokomotiv Astana crest. The crest consisted an image of the ball in a shanyrak style and two Kazakh national patterns on each side. 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. 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 and yellow. The Astana's current shirt sponsor is Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna. 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.

    Kit evolution

  • Home
  • Away
  • Third/Special
  • First team squad

    As of 2 March 2017.

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

    Out on loan

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

    For recent transfers, see 2017 FC Astana season.

    Notable managers

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

    Honours

  • Kazakhstan Premier League:
  • Winners (3): 2014, 2015, 2016
  • Kazakhstan Cup
  • Winners (3): 2010, 2012, 2016
  • Kazakhstan Super Cup
  • Winners (2): 2011, 2015

    Records

  • Record League victory – 6–1 v. Kairat (19 June 2011, most goals scored) 5–0 v. Atyrau (19 August 2011, widest margin of victory)
  • Record League defeat – 0–5 v. Irtysh (26 May 2011)
  • Most League wins in a row – 8, 7 April 2009 – 30 April 2009
  • Most League appearances – 130, Marat Shakhmetov 2009–14
  • Most appearances overall – 150, Marat Shakhmetov 2009–14
  • Most goals scored in a League season – 16, Foxi Kéthévoama 2014
  • Most goals scored in a season overall – 20, Foxi Kéthévoama 2014
  • Youngest first-team player – Abzal Beisebekov, 16 years, 4 months, 7 days
  • Oldest first-team player – Andrey Tikhonov, 39 years, 9 days
  • Top goalscorers

    As of Match played 9 December 2016

    Partnerships

  • Real Sociedad (2013–present)
  • On 11 November 2013 it was announced that 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.
  • Galatasaray S.K. (2014–present)
  • 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 Astana and Galatasaray S.K..

    References

    FC Astana Wikipedia