The Anti-Corruption Agency has outlined the main problems in Kazakhstan's sports sector: underdeveloped infrastructure and the lack of a unified digital platform.
According to the agency's press service, the shortage of sports facilities reduces opportunities for quality athlete training, and the lack of digitalisation in this sector leads to non-transparent athlete selection and the rewarding of "fake athletes."
The problem of insufficient sports infrastructure is particularly noticeable in the regions, where sports facilities are either completely absent or in a dilapidated state.
It is reported that Kazakhstan has a deficit of indoor sports facilities amounting to 374,200 sq m and swimming pools amounting to 376,400 sq m. The greatest shortage is felt in Almaty, Astana, as well as the Turkistan and Almaty regions.
However, the Concept for the Development of Physical Culture and Sport for 2023-2029, approved last year, does not fully reflect the needs of the sports sector, focusing instead on secondary issues: the lack of ordinary walking trails and bicycle paths.
It is noted that instead of building sports complexes and football academies, significant funds were spent on maintaining foreign players.
"For example, the most expensive club, FC Astana (50 billion tenge for 2018-2023, founder – the Corporate Fund 'Support Fund for the Tourism and Sports Industry' of Kazsportinvest JSC under the Committee for Sports and Physical Culture and the NOC), does not have its own football academy or infrastructure. Over 6 years (2018-2023), the club spent 1.4 billion tenge on renting football fields and premises", the Anti-Corruption Agency reported.
Regarding the digitalisation of Kazakh sports, the Anti-Corruption Agency states that the relevant ministry does not have up-to-date data on the state of Kazakh sports, as the introduction of the National Digital Platform E-sport, planned for 2020, never took place.
"…this state of affairs has led to uncontrolled spending of budget funds, coupled with the selection of affiliated suppliers, the fictitious nature of training camps and sports facility rentals, inflated salaries for foreign players, and double financing", the Anti-Corruption Agency noted.
Based on the analysis results, the agency submitted recommendations for the development of the sports sector, namely, "increasing the budget for mass and children's sports, centralising funding, developing own infrastructure and children's academies, as well as implementing digitalisation."