Kurmanbek

The confusion around Kurmanbek starts with the name itself.

The ground goes back to 1967, raised by ashar — communal labour, no contractors — and it kept the same name and the same footprint for decades. Kamchybek Tashiev, head of the Kyrgyz Football Union, attended the reopening on 15 May 2024, a joint project between the union and the Manas city administration.

What came out of that work sets Kurmanbek apart from most grounds in the country. The turf changed from natural grass to a hybrid pitch, the first of its kind in Kyrgyzstan.

None of that came with a bigger bowl. Capacity settled at 5,000, smaller than the 7,000 some older listings still carry over from before the rebuild. Mostly the ground works as a local fixture, home to Muras United, and it has already carried a fixture above its usual level: the 2018 Kyrgyzstan Super Cup.