Kazakhstan's national football team is guaranteed to keep its place in at least League C for the 2026/27 Nations League. UEFA, European football's governing body, has changed the promotion and relegation system as the competition moves from four leagues to three starting with the 2028/29 season, infohub.kz reports.
The key change for Kazakhstan is the abolition of League D. Under the transitional system approved by UEFA, every team finishing third or fourth in the four League C groups in the current edition will stay in the division for the 2028/29 season.
The previous rules set out a different scheme. The two worst teams among the fourth-placed finishers in League C were to be relegated directly to League D, while the two best were to play relegation/promotion play-offs against teams from the fourth division. That mechanism has now been scrapped.
The national team, led by John van 't Schip, will play in Group 3 of League C alongside Slovakia, the Faroe Islands and Moldova. The group winner will earn direct promotion to League B.
The runner-up will also keep a chance of moving up. All four second-placed teams in the League C groups will play play-offs against the four teams that finish bottom of their League B groups. The winners of those ties will go up to League B, while the losers will stay in League C.
That leaves three possible scenarios for Kazakhstan: first place means direct promotion to League B, second place means a promotion play-off, and third or fourth place means staying in League C.
The changes stem from a sweeping reform of national team competitions. Starting with the 2028/29 edition, the Nations League will consist of three divisions — A, B and C — instead of four, with 18 teams each. Because of the overall number of participants, one of the League C groups will contain seven teams.
All six teams playing in League D in the 2026/27 season will be moved automatically to League C. As a result, the third division in the 2028/29 season will be made up of the four losers of the B/C play-offs, the eight teams finishing third and fourth in the current League C, and six representatives of the abolished League D.
Kazakhstan's new Nations League campaign will begin on 26 September with an away match against the Faroe Islands. Three days later the team will play away to Slovakia. Home games against Moldova on 2 October and the Faroes on 6 October follow.
The final group-stage matches will take place in November: on the 13th Kazakhstan will play away to Moldova, and on the 16th it will host Slovakia.
Ahead of the tournament, the national team is being coached for the first time by John van 't Schip. The final squad for the upcoming matches includes Bauyrzhan Islamkhan and Stas Pokatilov, who have returned to the national team, while Dastan Satpayev will miss the camp because of an injury.