Kairat head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin shared his thoughts on the luxurious gifts presented to the club’s goalkeepers following recent high-profile matches.
Urazbakhtin said that football is a team sport, and any support should be directed to the club as a whole, not to individual players.
«In my opinion, if they want to help, they should help the club. Or, if they are giving gifts, they should give them to everyone. I am not here to teach those who give presents, but from a team perspective, it’s not right to single someone out. This policy prevails in our club. We are one team. If gifts are to be made, they should be made to the club — a bus or a van, for example. But my position is that it’s unnecessary to do so,» Urazbakhtin said at a press conference.
A video of local businessman Ulukbek Sharipov gifting 18-year-old goalkeeper Sherkhan Kalmurza a car prompted the coach’s comment. Later, another Kairat goalkeeper, Temirlan Anarbekov, received a similar present from a soft drink producer.
Users on social media also called for giving a car to the team’s 32-year-old main goalkeeper, Aleksandr Zarutskiy. Some argued that the player had been unfairly overlooked, sparking heated discussions in the comments section. Many users believe that such gifts should be given without publicity; otherwise, it looks like self-promotion for the giver.
One of Kairat’s players, 28-year-old Luís Mata, also mocked the selective gifting of cars to footballers. The player posted a photo of himself sitting in a toy BMW with the caption: «Thank you for the car.» Zarutskiy later reposted the image.
The Kairat vs. Real Madrid match ended in a 5-0 victory for the Spanish club. Following the game, Kalmurza became a social media sensation. Anarbekov gained his fame after Kairat’s dramatic win over Celtic — the one that secured the club’s qualification for the Champions League league phase.
