The country of Kazakhstan declared independence from theSoviet Union on 16 December 1991. Its national team then split from theSoviet Union national team (aUEFA member) and joined theAsian Football Confederation. At the time, they were one of the strongest teams in Central Asia, and one of the most improving teams in Asia.
The team played their first match against another former-Soviet debutant,Turkmenistan, on 1 June 1992, as part of a Central Asian tournament. Kazakhstan won 1–0. The tournament also saw the footballing debuts ofUzbekistan,Kyrgyzstan andTajikistan. After beatingLibya in a friendly inNorth Korea on 3 July, Kazakhstan played the remainder of its Central Asian fixtures and avoided defeat in all of them. They beat Uzbekistan 1–0 at home on 16 July, then drew 1–1 away in Turkmenistan on 14 September, in Kyrgyzstan on 26 September and Uzbekistan on 14 October. The final match was a 2–0 home victory over Kyrgyzstan on 25 October.[3]
Kazakhstan entered qualification for the first time in the attempt to reach the1998 FIFA World Cup. In the first round they were placed in Group 9 alongsidePakistan andIraq. Kazakhstan's first qualifying match was won 3–0 at home inAlmaty on 11 May 1997, against Pakistan. On 6 June they travelled toBaghdad to face Iraq and won 2–1, then five days later won an away match against Pakistan, 7–0 inLahore. The result remains Kazakhstan's biggest-ever international win. They retained their 100% start to World Cup football by beating Iraq at home 3–1 on 29 June.
In the second and final round of qualification, Kazakhstan came last in the group. Their only victory was on 18 October 1997, when they beat theUnited Arab Emirates 3–0 at home. Kazakhstan drew three other games – all at home (versus Uzbekistan,Japan andSouth Korea).
In the first round of Asian qualifying for the2002 FIFA World Cup, Kazakhstan were placed in Group 6 alongsideIraq,Nepal andMacau. All games in the group were to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after Nepal failed to organise matches inKathmandu in March 2001. After an Iraqi protest, the first three games for each team were moved toBaghdad, Iraq.
Kazakhstan started off well in Baghdad by beating Nepal 6–0 with two goals byOleg Litvinenko on 12 April, and Macau 3–0 two days later. On 16 April they held Iraq to a 1–1 draw in front of 50,000 spectators.Ruslan Baltiev put the Kazakhs in front in the 6th minute andAbdul-Wahab Abu Al-Hail equalised with a penalty in the 31st.
InAlmaty Central Stadium, Kazakhstan beat Nepal 3–0 with two goals byMaksim Igorevich Shevchenko on 21 April. Two days later they beat Macau 5–0,Dmitriy Byakov andIgor Avdeyev each scored twice after a goalless first half. The final game on 25 April saw a 1–1 draw against Iraq in front of a 25,000-strong crowd. Litvinenko put Kazakhstan ahead in the 32nd minute but Iraq equalised ten minutes later. Despite being level on points, Iraq advanced on goal difference mainly due to a 9–1 victory over Nepal.
Being atranscontinental country, Kazakhstan joinedUEFA in 2002. They had to wait until the2002 FIFA World Cup finished on 30 June before making the switch, as they had entered the tournament as an AFC member. Kazakhstan therefore could not enter qualification forUEFA Euro 2004, as the draw had been made on 25 January 2002. Since joining UEFA, Kazakhstan has been a relative minnow within the continent, with most of their qualifications being unsuccessful and often finish near dead last or bottom.
Their first official UEFA match was on 8 September 2004 and ended in a home defeat by 2–1 against Ukraine. Kazakhstan lost their next 9 matches, including a 6–0 home defeat against Turkey, their tied-biggest defeat up to 2018 and conceding a home defeat to Greece into four minutes of the stoppage time. Their sole point of the qualifying came in the next match, on 8 October 2005, in a 0–0 away draw against Georgia played behind closed doors, before losing the last match at home against Denmark.[6]
For theUEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, Kazakhstan was once again placed in the last drawing pot. Their campaign started with two away draws againstBelgium (0–0) andAzerbaijan (1–1). They lost the next three matches before getting their first official win as UEFA members in a 2–1 home triumph againstSerbia with goals fromKairat Ashirbekov andNurbol Zhumaskaliyev. After a home loss againstArmenia, Kazakhstan got their sixth and seventh points after drawing again with Azerbaijan (1–1) and Belgium (2–2), both at home. Losses againstPoland andPortugal were followed by their second win, this time away from home, withSergei Ostapenko scoring the winning goal against Armenia. Their last match was a delayed game against Serbia, ending in defeat. In the end, Kazakhstan finished with 10 points and placed 6th out of the 8 Group A teams.[7]
The2010 FIFA World Cup qualification had Kazakhstan in the 5th of 6 drawing pots, drawn in Group 6 withCroatia,England, Ukraine,Belarus andAndorra.[8] They started the campaign with a 3–0 home win against Andorra on 20 August 2008.[9] However, that was the only opponent they managed to get points from, after they won the reverse fixture 3–1 on 9 September 2009 and lost all the other group matches. Kazakhstan finished 5th, ahead only of Andorra, who lost all of their matches.[10]
Kazakhstan was drawn in the Group A of theUEFA Euro 2012 qualifying and lost the first five matches without managing to score a single goal before defeating Azerbaijan on 3 June 2011 by 2–1 with two goals fromSergey Gridin. They lost their next three games before ending the qualifying with a goalless home draw againstAustria. They ended in the last place with 4 points, three behind Azerbaijan.[11][circular reference]
Following recent unimpressive qualifying campaigns, Kazakhstan was once again in the last drawing pot for the2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. Their campaign in Group C started with two defeats before getting their first point in a goalless home draw against Austria on 12 October 2012. Losses to Austria and twice toGermany were followed by their first and only win of the qualification by 2–1 againstFaroe Islands on 6 September 2013. They still got a fifth point in a 1–1 away drawn against the same opponents. Kazakhstan finished in 5th place, ahead only of the Faroese.
TheUEFA Euro 2016 qualifying had Kazakhstan once more in the last drawing pot. Their first match was a home 0–0 draw againstLatvia on 9 September 2014, followed by six consecutive losses before another goalless draw, away from home, againstIceland. After their seventh defeat of the qualifying, Kazakhstan ended the campaign with a 1–0 away win against Latvia on 13 October 2015. The goal scored byIslambek Kuat got the Kazakhs the 5th place, tied in points with the Latvians, but with a better head-to-head record.[12]
Once again in the last drawing pot, Kazakhstan had an unimpressive2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, failing to win a single match. After two home draws against Poland andRomania in their first three matches, Kazakhstan lost their following six matches, ending the qualifying with a 1–1 home draw against Armenia and finishing last in Group E.[13]
For the2018–19 UEFA Nations League, Kazakhstan was in Pot 3 ofLeague D, the fourth and lowest division of theUEFA Nations League. Drawn in Group 1 with Georgia, Latvia and Andorra, their campaign started with a 2–0 home loss against group winners Georgia. Away draws against Andorra and Latvia had Georgia with 9 points after the three first matches, with all the other teams tied with 2 points. Kazakhstan defeated Andorra by 4–0 on 16 October, but the Georgia win against Latvia got the Georgians promoted to League C with two matches still to be played. Their sixth and last point came in a 1–1 home draw against Latvia, before being defeated by Georgia in the last group match and finishing in the second place of the group.[14]
TheUEFA Euro 2020 qualifying for Kazakhstan was unsuccessful again. However, Kazakhstan won ten points in the qualification, its best performance to date in Euro qualifying, including a shock 3–0 home win overScotland,[15] and a 1–1 away draw overCyprus, though they still finished fifth at the end.[16]
Kazakhstan played the opening match of theUEFA Euro 2024 qualifying at home againstSlovenia, which they lost 2–1.[17] In their next game against Denmark, Kazakhstan came from 2–0 down to win 3–2 in the last minutes of the match. Kazakhstan won a late victory away at Northern Ireland on 19 June 2023, withAbat Aymbetov scoring in the 88th minute from a breakaway goal.[18] Kazakhstan remained in contention for an automatic qualification berth throughout the campaign, only losing out on the final round due to a 2–1 away defeat to Slovenia.[19] Regardless, Kazakhstan had their best qualifying campaign to date as a UEFA member by progressing into theUEFA Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs. However, their most successful campaign ended with a 5–0 defeat againstGreece in the play-offs semi-finals.[20] Kazakhstan played against Wales in the UEFA Euro World Cup Qualifier on March 27, 2025. They initially tied 1–1 but went on to lose the game 3–1.
Though currently anUEFA member, Kazakhstan's best rivalries are mostly withAFC members from Central Asia, namelyUzbekistan,Tajikistan,Kyrgyzstan andTurkmenistan. They are arguably the second best national team in Central Asia, first beingUzbekistan. The Hawks' two biggest rivals are Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which dates back from earlyUSSR rule. These rivalries are still of great importance for many Kazakhs, since Kazakhstan does not have any real rivalry with any UEFA national team.
PRE Preliminary squad. INJ Injured after call up squad. WD Player was withdrawn from the roster for non-injury related reasons. RET Retired from the national team.
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