Arman Pirmanov, director of FC Arys, posted a video address on Instagram responding to sanctions by the Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF) and stated that the club did not participate in match-fixing, infohub.kz reports.
On November 6, the KFF announced the results of a meeting of its Control, Disciplinary and Ethics Committee. Arys head coach Galymzhan Yessenbayev was banned until August 1, 2027, for "failure by an official of the club to report a known fact of an attempt to influence the outcome of a match."
Pirmanov received a reprimand for "improper fulfillment of obligations to ensure compliance with the requirements of KFF regulatory documents." FC Arys itself was fined 50 MRP for "failure to comply with a KFF order during an internal investigation, as well as non-compliance with the requirements of the policy on combating match-fixing."
Pirmanov said that in May, amid a series of defeats, he organized an internal review with Yessenbayev. While reviewing matches, the director and head coach noticed that "something strange was happening."
"We saw that our first-team players were making strange movements. We noticed that we were conceding strange goals. Then we cut all this and sent it to the competent authorities. But after that, as you can see, our Galym-aga was suspended for nine months. Now we will file an appeal. We have never played and do not play any match-fixing. On the contrary, we wanted to report it and because of this we now find ourselves in a somewhat strange situation. Please carefully read the description issued by the KFF. We were sanctioned precisely because we reported this strange situation late," Pirmanov said.
Arys, representing Turkestan Region, finished seventh in the past First League season with 33 points from 26 matches.