A staggering 31,799,143,000 tenge was spent on football in Kazakhstan in 2025,according to a report presented to the Mazhilis. Deputy Nartai Sarsengaliev raised concerns about the financial management of football clubs, stating, “The reason for my deputy request was a especially alarming problem in the field of football. The message of the head of state said: “It is necessary to accelerate the work on the privatization of football clubs.Without such a step, as world experience shows, football in Kazakhstan will not develop.” Indeed, Kazakhstan football clubs were more likely to learn how to pull a hand to the treasury than to score goals into the gate. And we want them to compete for the ball in the green field, and not for budget funds.”

Sarsengaliev highlighted specific examples of budget allocations in 2025: the Ordabasi club received 3.2 billion tenge, football club “AKTөbe” received 2.1 billion tenge, and Club “Kyzyl-Jar” received 2 billion tenge.

The deputy also noted, “All the Premier league teams recieve funds from the budget. FC “Astana” in 2025 received 5.3 billion tenge from “Samyryk-Kazin”. These data are obtained from the authorized body. Spending such amounts on football is unreasonable.Moreover, significant funds from the budget are also allocated to clubs of the first league; Last year, thay received 1.2 billion tenge each. In total, in 2025, 24 billion tenge were allocated to the Premier League, 7.7 billion tenge clubs. Consequently, it can be officially stated that in 2025, 31,799,143,000 tenge were spent from Kazakhstan of Kazakhstan on football,”

“Kazakhstan football clubs were more likely to learn how to pull a hand to the treasury than to score goals into the gate.”

Sarsengaliev believes that privatizing football clubs could free up funds for other sectors,particularly to address the low salaries of coaches.He pointed out that a novice coach earns 117,000 tenge, while a top-category coach earns 145,115 tenge, leading many to seek better-paying positions in the education system.

Proposed Solutions

Sarsengaliev put forward the following proposals:

• Promptly privatize all football clubs in the country, following the head of State’s directive.
• Conduct a thorough audit of funds received by Kazakhstan football clubs and how they have been spent.
• revise Government Order No. 1193 to increase salaries for coaches in physical education and sports organizations.