Roundtable discussion: KFF President stated the need to create an expert commission in sport

The discussion was attended by the Vice-Minister of Tourism and Sports of Kazakhstan, deputies of the People's Party of Kazakhstan, representatives of the Anti-Corruption Agency of Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office, as well as sports federations of the country.

During the meeting participants discussed key issues related to the development of sport in Kazakhstan, focusing on ethics, compliance with the principles of fair play and the need to strengthen measures to combat corruption in the sports sector. It was noted that these problems are relevant to both national and international competitions, and require joint efforts of the state, sports organizations and civil society.

Adlet Barmenkulov in his speech gave an example of interaction between the Kazakhstan Football Federation with FIFA and UEFA, proposing to use a similar approach in Kazakhstan:

"We prepare programs, projects for UEFA and FIFA with the team. Completely pass all expert evaluations, defend our projects. As soon as the expert evaluation gives us positive results, we receive funding and start implementation. As soon as the implementation starts, the expert commission comes after us and controls the whole process until we get the final result. I propose to do the same. As FIFA and UEFA cope with 211 countries, why can't we cope with 20 regions!"

The KFF President proposed to create a similar expert commission in Kazakhstan, which would include local executive bodies (Department of Tourism and Sports), KFF, QFL, control and audit and public oversight commission. He also emphasized that the Federation has a clearly elaborated document regulating the functional tasks of such a commission, as well as a detailed application and funding process.

"If we systematize and implement models such as the cooperation of the KFF with FIFA and UEFA, we can achieve significant results. At the same time, it is important to talk about cost-effectiveness. Every tenge invested must have an effect. We know this and see it in practice,” Adlet Barmenkulov added.

During the round table KFF President Adlet Barmenkulov also answered journalists' questions, in particular about the foreigners' limit and the recent results of the national team. He explained the decision to abolish the limit:

“Since 2019, the limit has been abolished. We removed the substitution of concepts, as players from EAEU countries were not considered legionnaires. 13 Kazakh players in the team as they were, and remained. Now 5-6 clubs are playing in the championship, and playing time of Kazakhstani players has increased. Competitiveness is growing, and it is the merit of the right management”.

Also Adlet Barmenkulov answered the question whether he does not consider the national team's losses as a step backwards:

"Even winning the C league cannot compare to the game we showed against Slovenia and Austria. This was also evident in the match against Greece. Growth is possible only through attack, and that is the style we are developing now. We have implemented unified training standards with the national U-15 academy, which is supervised by world-class specialists. All our teams play a 4-2-3-1 scheme, which reflects our new attacking style”.

The KFF President also emphasized that the team is working for the long-term and the results are already visible:

"We have selected the best players from 1,500 kids, and the youth national team has already shown its progress by beating Scotland. We are breaking stereotypes about Kazakhstan football. Experiments are necessary, and Cherchesov, as a coach, is doing a great selection work. Yes, now it is difficult for us to compete in League “B”, but it is just a matter of time. We are developing infrastructure and academies, we are working on methodology and training process. It is impossible to change everything dramatically in two years, but there are already good results”.

During the discussion it was noted that in December 2023 - January 2024 Anticorruption agency conducted an audit of the Federation and Professional Football League of Kazakhstan. All identified risks and formed recommendations related exclusively to the financing of professional football clubs.The recommendations were aimed at strengthening control over the use of funds by these clubs, while the Federation itself does not receive funding from the state budget.

As a result of the discussions, proposals were developed to improve legislation in the field of sports, as well as identified steps to further strengthen the system of combating corruption in sports.