The finalists of the Kazakhstan Cup for the 2026 season have been determined. Shymkent's Ordabasy and Kyzylorda's Kaisar will compete for the trophy on November 7 at the capital's Astana Arena, reports infohub.kz.
In the two-legged semifinals, Ordabasy faced Ust-Kamenogorsk's Altai, while Kaisar took on the capital's Zhenis. The first legs were played back in July: in Shymkent, the hosts defeated Altai 3:1, and in Kyzylorda, Kaisar beat Zhenis by the same score. Thus, ahead of the return legs on August 19, the teams from Ust-Kamenogorsk and Astana needed to overcome a two-goal deficit.
Altai started the return match very actively: already in the third minute, Darko Dodev finished a cross from the edge of the six-yard box and put the hosts ahead. However, Ordabasy quickly recovered: eight minutes later, Bjorn Johnsen headed in a similar delivery to restore parity. In the 28th minute, Zhasulan Amir found himself one-on-one with the empty net on a counterattack and made no mistake, making it 2:1 in favor of the visitors. This scoreline held until halftime and ultimately became the final result.
Ordabasy head coach Andrei Martin said after the match: "I want to congratulate the whole team, the entire club, the city of Shymkent, and all our fans on reaching another final. It's a wrong strategy to play for the score and hold onto a lead. Usually, that can be punished. So we again based our approach on our own game, perhaps with some changes, but in principle, we tried to stay in control, wanted to possess the ball, wanted to create chances. Well, some things worked better, there were some shortcomings, but overall I am very pleased with how the guys performed. The most important thing is that we achieved the result we needed."
Kaisar, meanwhile, snatched their place in the final in a dramatic return match against Zhenis in Astana, scoring the decisive goal in the final minutes. The hosts quickly erased the two-goal deficit: by the 25th minute, Jian Martins and Andriy Filipovych had made it 2:0. Soon after, Zhenis were reduced to ten men when Zurab Tevzadze received a second yellow card and was sent off. In the second half, Kabral Evaristo pulled one back, but in the 75th minute, Filipovych scored his second with a free-kick, leveling the aggregate score. After the goal, Filipovych ran to celebrate in front of the Kaisar bench, adding to the drama. And in the last minute of regulation time, Ramazan Bagdat scored with a powerful shot from outside the box into the bottom corner, giving the visitors a 3:2 win on the night and a place in the final.
The decisive match of the Kazakhstan Cup will take place on November 7 at the Astana Arena.