FC Yelimay
Also written as Yelimay Semey.
The club
FC Yelimay is not FC Astana. The two clubs are sometimes confused because both are Kazakhstani sides that have appeared in the same corpus, but they have nothing else in common: Astana is the capital-city club founded in 2009 (as Lokomotiv Astana, renamed in 2011), owned by the sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, plays at the 30,254-capacity Astana Arena, and is the country's dominant modern side with seven league titles. Yelimay is a provincial club from Semey, a city in the east of the country, with roots going back to the Soviet era and a much smaller stadium; its Premier League titles all predate Kazakhstan's switch from Asian to European football affiliation.
The club's predecessor was a Soviet-era works team of the local brick factory in Semey, known as Tsementnik ("cement producer"). It became Spartak in 1971. After Kazakhstani independence and the club's entry into the newly formed Kazakhstani championship it was renamed Yelimay in 1994, after a historic Kazakh poem, and became one of the leading sides of the early Kazakhstan Premier League. The name changed several further times over the following years, including spells as AES-Yelimay (1999), Yelimay (2001), Semey (2004) and Spartak (2008), before reverting to Yelimay in 2022, the name it carries now. Nothing in the sources read for this dossier connects the club to FC Zhetysu of Taldykorgan, a separate club founded in 1981 that has operated continuously in Taldykorgan under its own sequence of names (Jetisu, Taldykorgan, Kainar, Jetisu Promservice, Jetisu); any claim that Yelimay is a relocated or renamed version of that club was not established from the sources read here.
The club plays at Spartak Stadium in Semey, with a capacity of 8,196. Its playing colours were not established with confidence from the sources read here beyond a general description of a darker home kit and lighter away kit. The chairman is Akhmedzhan Kazakbayev and the head coach is Andrei Karpovich.
Recent seasons
Yelimay were relegated from the Kazakhstan Premier League in 2005, not long after Kazakhstani clubs switched from AFC to UEFA competition, and spent most of the following years in the First Division before a period of non-participation between 2016 and 2021. The club returned to senior football and won the Kazakhstan First Division in 2023, earning promotion back to the top flight. Back in the Premier League, Yelimay finished sixth in 2024 and were fourth in the 2025 Kazakhstan Premier League, their best return since the club's original run in the 1990s. The exact points totals and match-by-match records for those seasons were not established from the sources read here.
Honours and landmarks
Yelimay won the Kazakhstan Premier League three times, in 1994, 1995 and 1998, all during the country's brief spell of AFC-affiliated football. They also won the Kazakhstan Cup and the Kazakhstan Super Cup, both in 1995, and, much more recently, the Kazakhstan First Division in 2023 on the way back to the top flight.
Notable scorelines
Among domestic results found in the sources read here, Yelimay won 6-3 away to Turan on 18 October 2025 during the 2025 Kazakhstan Premier League season. In the club's Asian-era continental history, Yelimay beat AiK Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan 6-3 on aggregate in the first round of the 1996-97 Asian Club Championship. Full lists of the club's record domestic wins and defeats were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Yelimay's continental history predates Kazakhstan's move to UEFA and was played in the AFC's Asian Club Championship. In the 1995 edition they beat Neftchi Farg'ona of Uzbekistan 5-4 on aggregate in the first round (winning 4-1 away after losing the first leg 1-3 at home) before being eliminated heavily by the Saudi club Al-Nassr in the second round. In the 1996-97 edition they beat AiK Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan 6-3 on aggregate in the first round, then lost 3-5 on aggregate to Persepolis of Iran in the second round.
Yelimay did not appear again in continental competition, under UEFA or otherwise, until qualifying for the 2026-27 UEFA Conference League as one of the leading Kazakhstani finishers. In the first qualifying round they were drawn against FC Alashkert of Armenia. The tie finished level, 3-3 on aggregate after Alashkert won the away leg 1-1 and the home leg went to extra time at 2-2, and Yelimay won the penalty shootout 6-5. The sources read here also record a note that Yelimay withdrew from the competition after this round, meaning the club did not go on to contest the second qualifying round; the exact circumstances of that withdrawal were not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
No meetings between Yelimay and FC Astana were found in the sources read here; the two clubs have not been confirmed to have played each other. Nothing was established about a head-to-head history against FC Zhetysu of Taldykorgan either, consistent with the two clubs having no established relationship. Detailed head-to-head records against other Kazakhstan Premier League sides were not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Andrei Karpovich is the head coach and Akhmedzhan Kazakbayev remains chairman. Yelimay entered the 2026-27 UEFA Conference League and beat FC Alashkert of Armenia on penalties, 6-5, after a 3-3 aggregate draw in the first qualifying round, but the sources read here record that the club withdrew from the competition after that round rather than proceeding further in Europe. Domestically, Yelimay's 2026/27 Kazakhstan Premier League campaign, and the club's current league position, were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Yelimay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan_Premier_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Zhetysu https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Astana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Alashkert https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026-27_UEFA_Europa_Conference_League
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.