Quantcast
Channel: EurasiaNet.org - Sport
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 16

Aisultan Nazarbayev: Kazakhstan Soccer’s Savior?

0
0

Kazakhstan’s Football Federation has a new vice president with a familiar sounding surname — Aisultan Nazarbayev.

With this appointment, President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s grandson has finally achieved his long-cherished ambition to make his mark on the country’s soccer scene.

The federation on February 28 anointed the younger Nazarbayev as its second-in-command. The 26-year old has a solid footballing pedigree. He represented Kazakhstan at Under-17 level and spent six months with England’s Portsmouth football club in 2007, when it was still in the English Premier League.

Nazarbayev, who is the son of the president’s eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, and the late Rakhat Aliyev, made his first foray into Kazakhstan’s football politics in October 2015. 

He was hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps — Aliyev was once the of head of the federation — but Nazarbayev’s bid to repeat that feat was unsuccessful at that time. Aliyev, who was forced out of the country’s top footballing job following his spectacular fall from grace in 2007, committed suicide in his Austrian prison cell in 2015 while facing kidnapping and murder charges.

Aisultan Nazarbayev would not be deterred, however.

read more


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 16

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images