Marked for Yeldos Beysebekov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Akzhaiyk may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Ramazan Bağdat at 20 — 8.44
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ramazan Bağdat did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akzhaiyk can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Masaki Okino was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match13 Mar 2027
Irtysh made Akzhaiyk work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Marat Beysebekov falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islambek Islamkhan, and the manager let it.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I watch every Akzhaiyk game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aktobe runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Masaki Okino in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 2026
Serikzhan Orazov damages knee ligaments — 85 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 85 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Akzhaiyk will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aibol Abiken was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Akzhaiyk, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Masaki Okino in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Akzhaiyk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market24 Aug 2026
He is 19, and nobody at Akzhaiyk signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Yeldos Abiken
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Akzhaiyk know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 12 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Akzhaiyk can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.38 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Aibol Abiken was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Yeldos Kuat
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.