Astana Football Club () is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,000-seat Astana Arena stadium. The club colours, reflected in their badge and kit, are sky blue and yellow. Founded as Lokomotiv Astana in 2009, the club changed its name to Astana in 2011.
The club has won a record seven league titles, three and six Kazakhstan Super Cups.
On 8 March 2009, Lokomotiv played in the league's inaugural match against FC Kazakhmys in Satbayev. In March 2009, Vakhid Masudov was replaced by Vladimir Gulyamkhaidarov. However, only two days after his appointment he was replaced by Russian specialist Sergei Yuran. The club earned silver medals in their first season of play. On 14 November 2010, Holger Fach guided Astana to their first Kazakhstan Cup success. However, they were ineligible for a UEFA license since they had not yet existed for at least three years. So they were not able to start in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. On 2 March 2011, Astana beat FC Tobol 2–1 and won the Kazakhstan Super Cup for the first time. In 2012, Miroslav Beránek led Astana to win their second Kazakhstan Cup. In July 2013, the club made a debut in Europe playing in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League against Botev Plovdiv. Astana lost both matches, 0–1 at home and 0–5 away. On 4 July 2013, Astana officially joined to newly created Astana Presidential Sports Club, the organization supported by the Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna to combine the main sports teams in Astana.
On 1 March 2015, Astana won the 2015 Kazakhstan Super Cup, beating FC Kairat 3–2 in a penalty shoot-out after the match ended with the score 0–0. On 26 August 2015, the club became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, after beating APOEL FC 2–1 on aggregate in the play-off round. They were drawn in Group C alongside Benfica, Atlético Madrid and Galatasaray, where they managed to obtain four points in six games after four draws and two losses. On 8 November 2015, Astana clinched their second Kazakhstan Premier League title beating FC Aktobe 1–0 at home in the last tour game. On 9 December 2015, the club extended their contract with Stanimir Stoilov for the next two years.
In the 2016 season, Astana was eliminated from UEFA Champions League after two stages, being defeated by Celtic in the third qualifying round 3–2 on aggregate. However, the club qualified for the UEFA Europa League group stage, beating BATE in the play-off round. On 26 October 2016, Astana won their third straight championship under Stoilov's rule. On 19 November 2016, the club won the 2016 Kazakhstan Cup, defeating Kairat 1–0. Their 2017 Champions League bid was stopped short once again by Celtic, this time in the playoff round. Following an embarrassing 5–0 rout in Glasgow, they failed to reach the group stages in an 8–4 defeat on aggregate. However, Astana reached another milestone by reaching the knockout phase of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League after finishing second in the group phase. Astana extended further its domestic dominance by winning fourth consecutive title in the 2017 season. On 8 January 2018, Stoilov signed a new contract with Astana, but left the club on 1 March 2018 to take over the vacant Kazakhstan national football team's manager position.
On 18 February 2020, Astana revealed a new logo to commemorate 10-years of the club.
On 26 August 2020, with Astana 2nd in the league and having just being knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, Michal Bílek was sacked as manager, with Executive Director Paul Ashworth taking over in a caretaker capacity. Ashworth his role as caretaker manager and executive director by mutual consent on 7 October 2020. Two days later, 9 October, David Loria was announced as the clubs new executive director. On 16 October 2020, former captain Andrey Tikhonov was appointed as the clubs new manager.
On 5 November 2021, Astana announced the departure of Andrey Tikhonov as their manager, with Srđan Blagojević being announced as the clubs new head coach on 21 November 2021. On 13 September 2022, Blagojević left Astana by mutual consent to become Head Coach of Debreceni VSC, with Grigori Babayan returning to the club as their new Head Coach. Astana qualified for the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in the 2023–24 season and finished 3rd in their group.
Blue and white were initially the club's primary colours, the team's nickname was the "Blue-and-White". Blue was used to accent the home jersey while white was the main colour of the team's away kit. During the 2012 season, Astana wore yellow and blue striped shirts and blue shorts as home kit and wholly blue away kit. In 2013, they retrieved original colours used from 2009 to 2011. In 2013, the club joined to Astana Presidential Club and adopted its colours. The present club colours are sky blue and yellow. Astana's current shirt sponsor is Sovereign Wealth Fund Samruk-Kazyna. The club's first kit sponsorship was from national railway company Kazakhstan Temir Zholy who sponsored the club for a total of 4 years before ending the deal in 2013. The team's kit supplier was Adidas who have supplied the club kits since their inception.
In March 2023, Astana announced Chery as their new sponsor, whilst also confirming their switch to Nike.
The club announced the return of their old crest after competing in their Europa Conference League group.
2009–2014 | Adidas | Kazakhstan Temir Zholy |
2014–22 | Samruk-Kazyna | |
2023– | Nike |
1 | Goalkeeper |
Holger Fach | 2010–2011 | Kazakhstan Cup, Kazakhstan Super Cup |
Miroslav Beránek | 2012–2013 | Kazakhstan Cup |
Stanimir Stoilov | 2014–2018 | Kazakhstan Premier League (4), Kazakhstan Cup, Kazakhstan Super Cup |
Grigori Babayan | 2018 | Kazakhstan Premier League, Kazakhstan Super Cup |
Roman Hryhorchuk | 2018–2020 | |
Michal Bílek | 2020 | Kazakhstan Super Cup |
Grigori Babayan | 2022– | Kazakhstan Premier League, Kazakhstan Super Cup, Kazakhstan League Cup |
UEFA Champions League | 35 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 40 | 53 | |
UEFA Europa League | 49 | 18 | 9 | 22 | 67 | 80 | |
UEFA Conference League | 37 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 46 | 50 | |
UEFA Europa League | 1QR | Botev Plovdiv | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–6 | ||
UEFA Europa League | 1QR | FC Pyunik | 2–0 | 4–1 | 6–1 | ||
2QR | Hapoel Tel Aviv | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | |||
3QR | AIK Fotboll | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | |||
PO | Villarreal CF | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–7 | |||
UEFA Champions League | 2QR | NK Maribor | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | ||
3QR | HJK Helsinki | 4–3 | 0–0 | 4–3 | |||
PO | APOEL FC | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | |||
GS | Benfica | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4th | |||
Atlético Madrid | 0–0 | 0–4 | |||||
Galatasaray | 2–2 | 1–1 | |||||
UEFA Champions League | 2QR | Žalgiris | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | ||
3QR | Celtic | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | |||
UEFA Europa League | PO | BATE Borisov | 2–0 | 2–2 | 4–2 | ||
GS | Olympiacos | 1–1 | 1–4 | 4th | |||
APOEL FC | 2–1 | 1–2 | |||||
Young Boys | 0–0 | 0–3 | |||||
UEFA Champions League | 2QR | Spartaks Jūrmala | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | ||
3QR | Legia Warsaw | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–2 | |||
PO | Celtic | 4–3 | 0–5 | 4–8 | |||
UEFA Europa League | GS | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2nd | ||
Slavia Prague | 1–1 | 1–0 | |||||
Villarreal CF | 2–3 | 1–3 | |||||
R32 | Sporting CP | 1–3 | 3–3 | 4–6 | |||
UEFA Champions League | 1QR | Sutjeska Nikšić | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | ||
2QR | FC Midtjylland | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | |||
3QR | Dinamo Zagreb | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | |||
UEFA Europa League | PO | APOEL FC | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 P. | ||
GS | Dynamo Kyiv | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3rd | |||
Rennes | 2–0 | 0–2 | |||||
FK Jablonec | 2–1 | 1–1 | |||||
UEFA Champions League | 1QR | CFR Cluj | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–3 | ||
UEFA Europa League | 2QR | Santa Coloma | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | ||
3QR | Valletta | 5–1 | 4–0 | 9–1 | |||
PO | BATE Borisov | 3–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | |||
GS | Manchester United | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4th | |||
FK Partizan | 1–2 | 1–4 | |||||
AZ Alkmaar | 0–5 | 0–6 | |||||
UEFA Champions League | 1QR | Dynamo Brest | 3–6 | ||||
UEFA Europa League | 2QR | Budućnost Podgorica | 0–1 | ||||
UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR | Aris | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | ||
3QR | KuPS | 3–4 | 1–1 | 4–5 | |||
UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR | Raków Częstochowa | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–6 | ||
UEFA Champions League | 1QR | Dinamo Tbilisi | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–2 | ||
2QR | Dinamo Zagreb | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–6 | |||
UEFA Europa League | 3QR | Ludogorets Razgrad | 2–1 | 1–5 | 3–6 | ||
UEFA Europa Conference League | PO | Partizani | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | ||
GS | Dinamo Zagreb | 0–2 | 1–5 | 3rd | |||
Viktoria Plzeň | 1–2 | 0–3 | |||||
FC Ballkani | 0–0 | 2–1 | |||||
UEFA Conference League | 2QR | Milsami Orhei | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | ||
3QR | Corvinul Hunedoara | 6–1 | 2–1 | 8–2 | |||
PO | SK Brann | 3–0 | 0–2 | 3–2 | |||
LP | FK TSC | 1–0 | 28th | ||||
The New Saints | 0–2 | ||||||
Pafos FC | 0–1 | ||||||
Vitória de Guimarães | 1–1 | ||||||
Chelsea | 1–3 | ||||||
APOEL FC | 1–1 | ||||||
2025–26 | UEFA Conference League | 2QR | Zimbru Chișinău | 1–1 | |||
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12.453 |
12.000 |
12.000 |
12.000 |
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