On 13 October, a UEFA Nations League match took place between the national teams of Kazakhstan and Slovenia, where Kazakhstan lost with a score of 0:1. Shortly after the match, a press conference was held with the participation of the head coach of the Kazakhstan national football team, Stanislav Cherchesov, during which, according to public opinion, the coach showed disrespect towards the Kazakh language.
When one of the journalists began to ask a question in Kazakh, Cherchesov interrupted him with the words: "Are you speaking French now?". This kind of ironic behaviour from the national team coach caused a certain stir - the Kazakh public regarded it as a sign of disrespect towards the state language.
As reported by the media, the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Kazakhstan did not ignore Stanislav Cherchesov's behaviour and demanded that the Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) provide official explanations regarding this incident.
The ministry reminded that, in accordance with the Constitution of Kazakhstan and the Law "On Languages", the state language has a special status, and all citizens are obliged to show it due respect.
In response, the KFF stated that for the unsuccessful joke, Cherchesov will pay a fine of 200 MCI (738,400 tenge). As reported by Tengri Sport, at a round table meeting of the People's Party of Kazakhstan faction, the head of the federation, Adilet Barmenkulov, admitted that the national team coach's humour "overstepped the mark".
"There are mistakes; we only spoke about this with journalists yesterday. Cherchesov's humour certainly oversteps the mark. I personally spoke with him, explained the relevance and priority of the state language. We had a conversation with him, did some work. A fine has been issued to him", he stated.
The media note that this is not the first time the Russian specialist has made such remarks. It is reported that in June, at one of the press conferences, a journalist similarly asked Cherchesov a question in Kazakh, to which he replied: "Can I answer you in Ossetian?"
Soon after, probably to smooth things over, the KFF reported that Cherchesov had started learning the Kazakh language. It was planned that he would master the language by the end of the year. However, there is information that the national team coach subsequently attended only one lesson.
Furthermore, at a pre-match press conference before the game "Kazakhstan – Slovenia", Stanislav Cherchesov admitted that he confuses Kazakhstani players. In his defence, he stated that "their surnames all start with Zh: Zhaksybaev, Zhaksylykov, Zhumakhanov…"
For context, Stanislav Cherchesov has been head coach of the Kazakhstan national football team since 3 June of this year. Since that time, the Kazakhstan national team has not achieved a single victory. Moreover, shortly after Cherchesov's appointment, eight people left the executive committee of the KFF.
One of them, Yerbol Yedilov, admitted that he resigned from his position because he disagrees with the decisions being made in the federation, including Cherchesov's appointment. Yedilov emphasised that he is "in favour of Kazakh football being clean and transparent", obviously hinting that there are clear violations in the KFF's activities.
Returning to Cherchesov, it is worth noting that some journalists previously reported that the head coach's salary amounts to 1.2 million euros. However, the Kazakhstan Football Federation refuted this information and stressed that this contract is not financed from budget funds.
Undoubtedly, one should not rule out that it is probably not easy for the Russian coach of Ossetian origin to learn the language and settle into a country that is foreign to him.
But perhaps Stanislav Cherchesov should still not forget that he has taken on the responsibility of leading an entire national team, and therefore must worthily bear the title of "head coach of Kazakhstan" and be tolerant towards the country in which he earns his living?