| Season | 2016 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Astana (3rd title) |
| Relegated | Zhetysu Taraz |
| Champions League | Astana |
| Europa League | Kairat Irtysh Pavlodar Ordabasy |
| Matches | 192 |
| Goals | 491 (2.56 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Gerard Gohou (22 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Kairat 6–0Okzhetpes (21 May 2016)[1] |
| Biggest away win | Shakhter Karagandy 0–5Kairat (11 June 2016)[2] Akzhayik 0–5Tobol (24 July 2016)[3] |
| Highest scoring | Aktobe 2–6Kairat (19 June 2016)[4] Aktobe 4–4Ordabasy (13 August 2016)[5] |
←2015 2017 → | |
The2016 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 25th season of theKazakhstan Premier League, the highestfootball league competition inKazakhstan.Astana were the defending champions having won their second league championship theprevious year, and they successfully defended their title this season. The season began on 12 March 2016 and concluded on 29 October 2016; the relegation play-off took place on 5 November 2016.
FC Kaisar was relegated at the end of the 2015 season, and was replaced byAkzhayik.
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined underFIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aktobe | Lotto | — | ||
| Akzhayik | Adidas | Expo 2017 | ||
| Astana | Adidas | Samruk-Kazyna | ||
| Atyrau | Adidas | — | ||
| Irtysh | Nike | ENRC | ||
| Kairat | Nike | Expo 2017 | ||
| Okzhetpes | Adidas | Chempionat | ||
| Ordabasy | Adidas | TAU | ||
| Shakhter | Adidas | — | ||
| Taraz | Adidas | — | ||
| Tobol | Adidas | — | ||
| Zhetysu | Adidas | — |
The number of foreign players is restricted to eight per KPL team. A team can use only five foreign players on the field in each game.
In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aktobe | Mutual consent | 10 November 2015[6] | Pre-season | 22 December 2015[7] | ||
| Taraz | Mutual consent | 11 November 2015[8] | ||||
| Kairat | Mutual consent | 30 November 2015[9] | 28 December 2015[10] | |||
| Shakhter | 8 January 2016[11] | |||||
| Tobol | 23 December 2015 | |||||
| Zhetysu | 5 January 2016[12] | |||||
| Kairat | Resigned | 5 April 2016[13] | 9th | 7 April 2016[14] | ||
| Tobol | Mutual consent | 28 April 2016[15] | 5th | |||
| Taraz | 15 May 2016 | 12th | 15 May 2016[16] | |||
| Shakhter Karagandy | Resigned | 3 August 2016[17] | 11th | 4 August 2016[18] |
In the regular season twelve teams played each other home-and-away in around-robin format for a total of 22 matches per team. The top six teams advanced to theChampionship round and the bottom six teams qualified for theRelegation round.[19]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astana | 22 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 34 | 14 | +20 | 53 | Qualification for thechampionship round |
| 2 | Kairat | 22 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 50 | 22 | +28 | 46 | |
| 3 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 37 | 18 | +19 | 41 | |
| 4 | Okzhetpes | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 23 | +10 | 37 | |
| 5 | Ordabasy | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 26 | 27 | −1 | 33 | |
| 6 | Aktobe | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 23 | 32 | −9 | 28[a] | |
| 7 | Atyrau | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 21 | 23 | −2 | 28[a] | Qualification for therelegation round |
| 8 | Tobol | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 28 | 26 | +2 | 28[a] | |
| 9 | Zhetysu | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 32 | −10 | 23 | |
| 10 | Shakhter Karagandy | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 10 | 27 | −17 | 21 | |
| 11 | Taraz | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 19 | |
| 12 | Akzhayik | 22 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 44 | −32 | 11 |
| Home \ Away | AKT | AKZ | AST | ATY | IRT | KRT | OKZ | ORD | SHA | TAR | TOB | ZHE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aktobe | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–6 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | |
| Akzhayik | 0–0 | 1–5 | 0–4 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–5 | 1–2 | |
| Astana | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| Atyrau | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | |
| Irtysh Pavlodar | 4–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | |
| Kairat | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | |
| Okzhetpes | 4–1 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | |
| Ordabasy | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 0–1 | |
| Shakhter Karagandy | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
| Taraz | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–3 | |
| Tobol | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | |
| Zhetysu | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
The top six teams from the regular season will participate in theChampionship round where they will play each other home-and-away in around-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to theprevious season, teams will carry forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Championship round the winners will be the Champions of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League and qualify for2017–18 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. The runners-up and third-placed team will qualify forEuropa League first qualifying round and the fourth-placed team will also qualify for Europa League because one of the top three teams will win the2016 Kazakhstan Cup.[19]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Astana(C) | 32 | 23 | 4 | 5 | 47 | 21 | +26 | 73 | Qualification for theChampions League second qualifying round[a] |
| 2 | Kairat | 32 | 22 | 5 | 5 | 75 | 30 | +45 | 71 | Qualification for theEuropa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 32 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 52 | 36 | +16 | 49 | |
| 4 | Ordabasy | 32 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 41 | 44 | −3 | 48 | |
| 5 | Okzhetpes | 32 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 42 | 44 | −2 | 45 | |
| 6 | Aktobe | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 37 | 52 | −15 | 36 |
The worst six teams from the regular season participated in theRelegation round where they played each other home-and-away in around-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to theprevious season, teams carried forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Relegation round the winners are considered the 7th-placed team of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League, the runners-up being 8th and so on, with the last team being 12th. The 11th-placed team,Taraz, qualified for therelegation play-off againstAltai Semey, the runners-up of2016 Kazakhstan First Division, with the losing team being eliminated, and the 12th-placed team,Zhetysu, will be directly relegated to2017 Kazakhstan First Division as the last-placed team.[19]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Tobol | 32 | 12 | 5 | 15 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 41 | |
| 8 | Atyrau | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 35 | 39 | −4 | 39 | |
| 9 | Shakhter Karagandy | 32 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 25 | 40 | −15 | 36 | |
| 10 | Akzhayik | 32 | 11 | 2 | 19 | 27 | 50 | −23 | 35[a] | |
| 11 | Taraz | 32 | 10 | 5 | 17 | 33 | 42 | −9 | 35[a] | Qualification for therelegation play-offs[b] |
| 12 | Zhetysu(R) | 32 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 37 | 53 | −16 | 31 | Relegation to theKazakhstan First Division |
| 5 November 2016 (2016-11-05) | Taraz | 0–3 | Altai Semey | Astana |
| 14:00 (UTC+6) | Report | Shakin Shaff Nurgaliyev | Stadium:Astana Arena Attendance: 2,500 Referee:Artyom Kuchin |
Altai Semey are promoted to the2017 Kazakhstan Premier League; Taraz are relegated to the2017 Kazakhstan First Division.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kairat | 22 | |
| 2 | Irtysh Pavlodar | 18 | |
| 3 | Kairat | 17 | |
| 4 | Taraz | 13 | |
| 5 | Zhetysu | 12 | |
| Ordabasy/Astana | |||
| 7 | Tobol | 10 | |
| Ordabasy | |||
| 9 | Okzhetpes | 9 | |
| 10 | Okzhetpes | 8 | |
| Astana | |||
| Kairat | |||
| Atyrau | |||
| Tobol | |||
| Akzhayik |
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zhetysu | Taraz | 3–2 | 15 June 2016 | [24] | |
| Ordabasy | Aktobe | 4–4 | 13 August 2016 | [25] | |
| Taraz | Zhetysu | 3–2 | 10 September 2016 | [26] |