Back in March, there were genuine doubts over what to expect from Okzhetpes. After an almost complete overhaul of the squad, the Kokshetau club looked more likely to spend the season in the bottom half of the Kazakhstan Premier League than challenge near the top.
Six months later, those expectations have been turned on their head.
Following victory over Zhenis, Okzhetpes sit fourth with 45 points from 26 matches, having recorded 13 wins, six draws and seven defeats. Their 41 goals also give them the fourth-best attacking record in the division.
Only Ordabasy, Kairat and Astana sit above them, while Aktobe, Elimai and Tobol are among the established names currently behind.
What makes that position particularly striking is the scale of the transformation behind it. Okzhetpes were effectively rebuilt during the winter, while the club itself is undergoing a wider restructuring designed to reduce its reliance on regional government funding and attract greater private investment.
Now, with four matches remaining, a team once expected to struggle has an opportunity to achieve the best league finish in the club’s history and potentially bring European football back to Kokshetau for the first time in 17 years.
From promotion to another rebuild
Okzhetpes’ current rise has come after several years of considerable change.
The club were relegated from the Kazakhstan Premier League in 2023 but responded by winning the First League the following season, collecting 63 points from 28 matches to secure an immediate return to the top flight.
Their first season back started better than expected. Under Andrey Ferapontov, Okzhetpes remained close to the leading sides during the early stages of the campaign and recorded notable away victories over Elimai and eventual champions Kairat.
However, Ferapontov left in July for what the club described as family reasons. Kairat Nurdauletov replaced him, but the momentum did not last. Okzhetpes took 11 points from his 11 matches and endured a run of five successive defeats during the autumn, including a 7-1 loss to Ordabasy, before eventually finishing eighth.
What followed was another dramatic reset.
Fifteen players departed in January and, according to new head coach Rinat Alyuetov, only three members of the squad still had contracts when he arrived. In effect, he was being asked to construct a new team almost from scratch.
Despite being only 36, Alyuetov already had considerable experience across Kazakhstan. He had previously worked as a head coach with Zhetysu, Zhenis, Turan and Caspiy, as well as serving on Elimai’s coaching staff. Most recently, he had led Irtysh to second place in the First League in 2025 and promotion to the Premier League.
Several players followed him from Pavlodar to Kokshetau, including Vladimir Vomenko, Nurgaini Buribaev, Vladislav Vasiljev, Abinur Nurymbet and Mokhammed Ensebaev. Goalkeeper Miroslav Lobantsev, striker Oralkhan Omirtaev and midfielder Dmitry Borodin were among the other additions, alongside defenders Boris Lototskiy, Leo Assunção and Ivan Kuzmichev.
There is also an Uzbek influence within the squad.
Bektemir Abdumannonov arrived in the spring after an impressive spell with Andijan. The 24-year-old won the Uzbek Cup in 2024, providing two assists in the final against Navbahor, and was subsequently voted Andijan’s player of the season by supporters.
He was joined in the summer by Shakhboz Umarov, who was already familiar with Kazakh football after spells with Ordabasy, Turan and Tobol. The 27-year-old was also part of the Ordabasy side that won the Kazakhstan Premier League. Both have featured regularly for Okzhetpes.
There was experience among the new arrivals. Kuzmichev had played in the Russian Premier League, Omirtaev had represented Kazakhstan, while Abdumannonov and Umarov had established themselves elsewhere in Central Asian football.
Yet, taken as a whole, it hardly resembled a squad expected to immediately challenge towards the top of the table.
Farmers, a former journalist and a new model
The playing squad was not the only part of Okzhetpes being rebuilt.
In February, authorities in the Akmola Region announced plans to commercialise the club. A public foundation was established under Ivan Sauer, the head of agricultural company Rodina, with agricultural producers from across the region invited to help finance the project.
The stated objective is to gradually reduce Okzhetpes’ dependence on the regional budget and develop alternative sources of funding. At the team’s presentation, the arrangement was described more simply: the region’s agricultural sector was taking Okzhetpes under its wing.
That transition is still ongoing.
Club director Yerbol Kairov recently said Okzhetpes intend to change their legal entity and become part of the public foundation by the end of the year. Under the proposed model, the burden on the regional budget would be reduced gradually as the contribution from private business increases.
It represents a significant issue for a club that has experienced financial problems before. In 2024, prosecutors uncovered 425 million tenge (around £712,000) in unpaid wages owed to 160 employees. The outstanding money was subsequently paid following intervention from the authorities.
Kairov now describes Okzhetpes as having one of the smaller budgets in the Premier League, but says salaries are being paid on time. Investor funding is being used for wages, food, accommodation, logistics and bonuses, while the club continues to seek additional partners.
The man overseeing that transition also has an unusual route into football administration.
Kairov was appointed director in April after previously working as a sports journalist with Qazsport and Khabar. He later held roles within the Kazakhstan Football Federation and professional league, served as an adviser at Taraz and was among the official candidates for the KFF presidency at the end of 2024.
One of his priorities has been rebuilding the club’s relationship with its supporters.
According to Kairov, Okzhetpes had not sold tickets for home matches for around seven or eight years before this season. In 2026, the club introduced a modest admission price of 250 to 500 tenge (around 40p-85p).
Ticket sales have already generated several million tenge, which was reinvested in equipment for the club’s media department rather than purchased using budget funding.
The changes have also been visible in the club’s identity. Okzhetpes introduced a redesigned badge with a cleaner, more modern look, alongside a simplified version intended for social media and digital use, an approach increasingly common among clubs looking to create a more recognisable visual identity across different platforms.
The existing stadium in Kokshetau has also been given a facelift. New branding, club colours and locally inspired cultural elements have been added around the ground, helping give the venue a more distinct identity.
Perhaps the most unusual attempt to reconnect supporters with the club came during the winter.
Okzhetpes took two fans with the team to their training camp in Turkey, allowing them to follow the squad’s daily routine, attend training sessions, sometimes three in a day and report back to fellow supporters on how the new side was taking shape.
At that stage, Alyuetov said just one player remained from the previous year’s squad. He estimated the transformation at “99%”.
Interest has followed results. A September home match against Ordabasy attracted a sell-out crowd of 4,500, while a new covered stadium capable of staging international fixtures is also under construction in Kokshetau.
Not a team that simply parks the bus
The most surprising element of the rebuild, however, has been what has happened on the pitch.
Okzhetpes are not a possession-heavy side. Once they recover the ball, the priority is often to move forward quickly, whether through a vertical pass, a longer ball or an early switch towards the flanks.
Intensity without possession is central to their approach. Alyuetov’s players look to identify areas in which they can pressure opponents before transitioning quickly into attack after regaining the ball.
There is no single rigid formation either.
Okzhetpes have played with a back four and a three-man central defence, while Alyuetov has altered the height of the press and his midfield structure according to the opposition.
The coach has spoken openly about adapting his team to exploit particular weaknesses. Against Qyzyljar, Okzhetpes changed their usual structure, while the staff identified specific pressing zones before facing Atyrau.
That flexibility makes it difficult to dismiss them as a side concerned only with defending deep and counter-attacking.
Against stronger opponents, they are comfortable conceding territory when necessary. In other matches, however, they can spend significant periods controlling possession themselves.
Their limitations tend to become clearer against a deep defensive block. When space disappears and Okzhetpes are required to patiently break down a compact defence, the relative lack of individual quality in the final third can become more apparent.
One characteristic, though, emerged almost immediately: this is a difficult team to finish off.
After five rounds, Okzhetpes had collected 11 points and were level at the top with Kairat and Elimai. In every one of those matches they either came from behind or secured the required result late on, with more than half of their goals during that run arriving after the 80th minute.
By late August, it was becoming difficult to regard that as coincidence. After 22 matches, Okzhetpes had scored 15 times after the 75th minute while conceding only six during the same period. Kazakh media calculated that they had ‘won’ the closing stages of matches on ten occasions the best record in the league at that point.
Alyuetov’s substitutions have been an important part of that. When patient possession is not producing chances, Okzhetpes are prepared to become more direct, compete for second balls, load the penalty area and look for set-piece opportunities.
With a physically powerful squad, they have the personnel to make that change of approach particularly uncomfortable for tiring opponents.
Kokshetau has become one of the league’s toughest away trips
Some of Okzhetpes’ most convincing evidence has come against the country’s leading clubs.
Astana were beaten 1-0 in Kokshetau in May, followed by a 2-1 victory over Tobol in June. Then, on 5 September, league leaders Ordabasy arrived in the city, took the lead and still left empty-handed after Okzhetpes scored twice after the break.
Zhenis were the latest visitors to suffer, losing 3-1.
After 13 home matches, Okzhetpes have eight wins, four draws and only one defeat. Kairat remain the only side to have taken all three points from Kokshetau this season.
That contrasts sharply with their away record of five wins, two draws and six defeats.
Alyuetov has pointed to several reasons for the difference. Okzhetpes train and play on artificial turf in Kokshetau, while many away fixtures require them to switch to natural grass. Pitch dimensions also vary, while some journeys bring significant logistical and acclimatisation challenges.
On certain trips, players have had to combine flights with lengthy bus journeys. At home, they also have a growing support behind them.
The season has not been without difficult periods. Okzhetpes lost twice to Kairat during the summer, including a 5-0 defeat, and were also beaten by Tobol and Aktobe during a run of four defeats in five matches.
Yet they have repeatedly recovered. A 4-1 win over Altai was followed later by three successive victories against Atyrau, Kaisar and then-leaders Ordabasy.
Now they want Europe regularly
When Alyuetov took charge, no major league target was set. That has changed as the season has progressed, with the coach admitting that hopes of European football have gradually emerged.
The club is also thinking longer term. Director Yerbol Kairov has presented a five-year strategy aimed at making European qualification a regular occurrence, although he acknowledges that greater investment will be required.
Okzhetpes’ best-ever league finish is fifth. With four matches remaining, they sit fourth on 45 points, three behind Astana, who have played one game fewer. Fourth could also be enough for Europe if Ordabasy win the Kazakhstan Cup and finish in the top three.
Their only previous European appearance came in 2009, when licensing and financial issues affecting clubs above them opened the door despite a ninth-place league finish. Okzhetpes beat Zimbru 2-1 away before losing the return leg 2-0.
This time, Kairov wants qualification to come on sporting merit.
A team rebuilt almost from scratch is now within reach of the best season in the club’s history and a return to Europe after 17 years.