11.2.13

Football in Kazakhstan

Yarysh 1914

The first Kazakh football clubs were formed in 1913 in the rather isolated city of Semipalatinsk  (known as Alash-kala from 1917-1920 and Semey since 1997). Although geographically remote the city was on  an important trade route, and tradition has it that football was first introduced there by English travelers. According to the Kazakhstan FA the earliest clubs were  SSK, Olimp, Lastochka, Orlyata and Yarysh.
At this time  Yarysh played a group of Czech prisoners of war- the first example of a Kazakh side playing foreign opposition. 
The game spread to Pavlodar ( a predominantly Russian city ) by 1915, and there are records of clubs there, most notably Yastreb and Zvyozdochka.

In 1928 a team representing Kazakhstan took part in All-Union Workers’ Sports Competition held in Kazan, finishing the tournament as runners up.
The debut of a Kazakh team in top Soviet football came in 1936, Dinamo Aktyubinsk (from modern day Aktobe) playing CDKA Moscow in the Soviet Cup (and losing 4-0).
The following year Dinamo Alma-Ata joined the lower tiers of the Soviet league.



I cannot identify this team