Kazakh football awaits major changes

The intrigue surrounding the post of the head of the Football Federation of Kazakhstan is gaining momentum. Yesterday afternoon several Russian sports and political newspapers received e-mails reading: "The Executive Committee of the Football Federation of Kazakhstan received a petition from the Football Tribune of Kazakhstan group with a request to consider the early resignation of the President of the FFK, Y.T. Kozhagapanov. The initiative group calls into question the legitimacy of the elections and its results. On October 18 Mr. Kozhagapanov wrote a resignation letter. The General Manager D. Vasiliev addressed the members of the Board with a recommendation to accept the resignation of the President of the Football Federation of Kazakhstan, Y.T. Kozhagapanov, on October 19.

For the uninitiated in the vicissitudes of the struggle for the leadership of Kazakh football, there is information that the main opponent of Yerlan Kozhagapanov in the fight for the post of the FFK head is Aisultan Nazarbayev, who is the grandson of the president of Kazakhstan.

Therefore, from the beginning of lobbying and public struggles over this post, the positions of the former leadership of the Federation, despite the supposed support of a number of political heavyweights, seemed to be very vulnerable. And the decision to withdraw seemed to be a logical step, although a little belated.

However, in the evening of October 20 several news agencies published a statement of the Football Federation, in which officials denied the information about the resignation of the president of the organization, Yerlan Kozhagapanov, saying that the media reports of his resignation sent on Tuesday is a fake. This was getting curiouser and curiouser, because the information about the events of October 20-21st at the popular and authoritative resource Novosti-Kazakhstan was dated Monday, October 19th.

The essence of the differences between the old leadership of the Federation and the main contender for the presidency was most clearly stated by Aysultan Nazarbayev: "Personally, I have nothing against Kozhagapanov, however, occupying such a position, he must fulfill his responsibilities. And not every person has seen his face in some regions. In such cases I always hold up our President as an example. He always visits all the regions, asks the governors about problems."

In fact, on the Kazakh-scale, loss of communication with the regions is always fraught with loss of control and contact with the performers. Especially since similar claims against Kozhagapanov were voiced at a specially convened conference a few days ago by regional functionaries, both the administrators and supervisors of provincial clubs. Moreover, in a form that does not coincide with the restrained performance of Aisultan Nazarbayev, who clearly doesn't want to get personal.

Is it the 'Tolstykh effect'? In some ways the situation is similar, but there are fundamental differences.

The conflict comes amid an absolute success for Kazakh national soccer – Kazakh football clubs occupied high positions in the UEFA rankings, Kairat FС and Tulpar FC are performing in the Elite round of the UEFA Football Cup, Astana FC for the first time in the history of Kazakh football reached the group stage in the Champions League. The team is gradually recovering. Although there are still many critical arrows to it.

However, as in Russia, the situation in the domestic championship is clearly far from ideal – refereeing problems remain unresolved, there are a lot of straight-forward matches, the football infrastructure (fields, stadiums) is not in good shape in every region.

There is a lot of work to be done, but major changes are already evident. In the current crisis situation we cannot expect that the problems can be solved only using money. So we need a new administrative resource (an analogy with Mutko arises) and consolidation of functionaries around a strong leader. Although, unlike Mutko, Aisultan Nazarbayev's management talents are not fully apparent yet. At the same time, we cannot deny his potential and enthusiasm.

Another question is that the international football authorities don't like such controversies. As well as the government's intervention in matters that are part of FFK competence. Therefore, those who demand Kozhagapanov's dismissal must act as discreetly and gently as possible, without use of "heavy artillery".

It is likely that, like Russia's Kremlin, Kazakhstan's Ak Orda will act as a moderator of further developments and not allow the situation to go beyond the legal field. In any case, Kazakh football will face major changes.