Sergiy Maliy

Sergiy Maliy started out in his native Luhansk, coming through Kommunalnyk before a run at Zorya Luhansk and a spell with Arsenal-Bilska in Bila Tserkva. In 2013 he left Ukraine for Kazakhstan, joining Shakhter Karagandy, where he won the Kazakhstan Cup and Super Cup in his first year — and took Kazakhstani citizenship that same year. He made his debut for Kazakhstan in 2014 and has since gone on to earn more than 45 caps as a centre-back.

His career since has moved between several of the country's leading clubs. After a first spell at Ordabasy in 2015, he had a year at Ertis Pavlodar before joining FC Astana, where he stayed from 2016 to 2020 and was twice sent out on loan, to Tobol in 2017 and back to Ordabasy in 2019. It was with Astana that he won his first Kazakhstan Premier League title, in 2016, adding a Super Cup in 2020.

He made the Tobol move permanent in 2020 and won the league title there in 2021, following it up with Super Cup wins in 2021 and 2022. In 2023 he returned to Ordabasy once more, and the club won the league title that year. Every one of his moves in Kazakhstan has come as a free transfer or a return from loan, without a fee changing hands.