The Akim of Shymkent Gabit Syzdykbekov admitted his helplessness in the face of multi-million dollar contracts of the players of FC Ordabasy, including the 34-year-old team captain Askhat Tagybergen, who receives a monthly salary of 20 million tenge. At the same time, last year the club received over 6.3 billion tenge from the city budget, which is five times the established 'ceiling' for state funding.
As reported by KazFootball.kz, the head of Shymkent did not hide his disappointment with the current situation regarding the football club. The official explained in detail the essence of the problem with the team's funding, which he described as a 'swamp'.
'The average salary of the players is 15 million tenge. The contracts are for two years, registered with UEFA. If we terminate the contracts with them, we would have to pay the full penalty. Askhat Tagybergen can no longer play, but doesn't want to leave either; he just sits there. I say openly, his salary is 20 million tenge. I can do nothing in this situation,' the media quote the Akim of Shymkent as saying.
The candid admission by the high-ranking official of his inability to influence the distribution of budget funds caused a wide resonance, especially given the team's modest sporting achievements.
According to information from the Telegram channel 'Halyqstan', Kazakhstan has a limit on the funding of professional football clubs from the state budget — no more than 1.2 billion tenge per team. However, last year FC Ordabasy received an amount from the city treasury exceeding this limit more than fivefold — over 6.3 billion tenge.
The Department of Physical Culture and Sports of Shymkent signed six contracts with FC Ordabasy. Four of them, totalling 4.3 billion tenge, were signed on the same day — 28 February. Two more contracts were concluded in September and December of last year.
So what exactly were the taxpayers' money of Shymkent spent on?
According to available information, the club's overall funding includes 1.2 billion tenge for the preparation and participation of the team in the Kazakhstan Football Championship in the Premier League, and the same amount for participation in UEFA games and the Conference League. During this time, the team played six matches in European competitions, scoring goals in only one on home turf.
Additionally, just over a billion tenge was paid to the club for Premier League first-team games in the second half of the season, and another similar amount in December for the same purposes. Funding was also allocated for the development of children's, youth, and women's football, with 1.2 billion tenge set aside for this. The editorial team of the FBRK has previously reported on these and other amounts here.
Furthermore, 700 million tenge was directed towards the futsal team, even though futsal is considered a separate sport.
It is important to note that all this financial activity was analysed by the Anti-Corruption Service of Shymkent. It is reported that in December last year, representatives of the Anti-Corruption Service stated that there were uncontrolled expenditures on the salaries of legionnaires and players of FC Ordabasy, which are only approved by the club's management.
As a result, over five years, 22.7 billion tenge was allocated from the city budget for the upkeep of the club, of which only 11% — 2.5 billion tenge — went towards the development of mass football.
The Anti-Corruption Service strongly recommended that the city administration reconsider the legal organisational form of the club from a joint-stock company to a municipal legal entity, which would allow for setting salary caps.
However, for now, the club still operates as a joint-stock company and continues to receive significant funding. It is noted that from 10 to 13 February this year, three new contracts were already signed for a total of 3.2 billion tenge, two of which relate to the first team.
The admission by the Akim of Shymkent of his helplessness in the face of multi-million dollar player contracts highlights problems in the sports funding system. This situation likely requires an immediate revision of approaches to funding professional sports clubs and strengthening control over the expenditure of budget funds.