Kyzyl-Zhar

The medals that mattered most in Petropavl came at the turn of the century. Silver in the Kazakhstan championship in 1999, silver again in 2000, then bronze in 2001. In the middle of that run it also reached the Kazakhstan Cup final, in 2000, and lost it. The side carried the name Access-Yesil at the time, one of a long line of names the club has answered to.

Two decades later came a different kind of title. The First League was won in 2019 under Ali Aliyev, who had spent 2015 to 2018 in the squad before taking the job, and who later worked with the Kazakhstan national team.

The connection between those two eras runs partly through one family. Oleg Chukhleba came up through Petropavl football and played through the years of the silver medals. He has since taken charge of the team on and off since 2010, most recently in 2025 — head coach, caretaker, head coach again. His brother Yuri played for the club under yet another of its names.

Home is the Karasai Stadium, 11,000 seats. The fixture that fills it is the northern derby against Okzhetpes of Kokshetau.

The club took its present name, Kyzyl-Zhar SK, in 2013. Before that it had been Metallist, Yesil, Access-Yesil, Access-Golden-Grain, Yesil-Bogatyr — the nickname Bogatyri belonged to that last spell, and the Eagles came afterwards. It began in 1968 as Avangard, in the administrative centre of the North Kazakhstan region, and was among the founding members of the Kazakhstan Premier League.