The first KPL season after the lifting of the limit on foreign players. Who trusted the Kazakhs and what did this lead to – Football

Previously, no more than seven foreigners could be on the field, but in 2024 these restrictions were completely lifted. The only condition is that in the clubs’ application, out of 25 football players, 13 must necessarily be graduates of Kazakh football. This innovation had a significant impact on team compositions, as well as the playing time of local players.

The republican Internet portal Sports.kz analyzed how clubs used Kazakhstanis and what this led to. The article looked at statistics of only starting lineups.

It’s worth starting with the fact that 312 matches were played in the KPL 2024. In total, during this time, Kazakhstanis appeared at the start 1196 times. This suggests that on average each team produced 4 local players from the first minutes, so the limit of seven foreign players was practically preserved. Be that as it may, it's just…