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Kara-Ak derby

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An evening match under floodlights seen from high in a full stand, with players in white and in crimson on the pitch, black-and-orange flags waved in the foreground and snowy mountains above the roof
Neftchi supporters with black-and-orange flags at a Kara-Ak derby

The Kara-Ak derby (Iradi: Kara-Ak darbisi, "Black–White derby") is the football rivalry between Neftchi Nurzhan and Tulpar Talas, the two most successful clubs of the Irad League (see Football in Irad). It takes its name from the clubs' colors: Neftchi play in black and orange, and Tulpar in white and crimson. Between them the two clubs have won 24 of the 31 league titles since 1994.[1]

Commentators describe the derby as the clearest sporting expression of the divide between Russian-speaking, industrial Nurzhan and the increasingly Iradi-speaking capital, Talas. It also maps onto the rivalry between the owners of the two clubs. Neftchi is funded by NurGaz, whose president Kamran Bekzatov is the leading figure of the Russos, and Tulpar is owned by a company of Adil Toktarov, a son of Governor Erlan Toktarov.[2]

History

The clubs descend from two Soviet teams. Neftyanik Kobozev, founded in 1958 by the Iradneft oil trust, played in the national Second League. Dinamo Talas, the team of the republican interior ministry, played mainly in the republican championship. Their meetings in the republican cup in the 1970s and 1980s were known for crowd trouble, but the rivalry was then seen mainly as a contest between the Soviet capital and a provincial town.[3]

After 1992 the rivalry took on political meaning. Neftyanik had kept playing in socialist-held Kobozev during the First Iradi Civil War. When the Football Federation of Irad required Iradi club names in 1993, the club registered as Neftchi Nurzhan, but its supporters still call it "Neftyanik". Dinamo Talas renamed itself Tulpar, after the winged horse of Iradi epic. Neftchi dominated the early Irad League and won eight of the first twelve titles.[1]

Rustam Bekzatov, a son of Kamran Bekzatov, became club president of Neftchi in 2009. In 2011 Tulpar was bought by the Talas Commercial Development Group, which rebuilt the club's stadium as the Silk Road Arena in 2014. Tulpar has won six of the ten titles since 2015.[1]

Political undertones

Language is the most visible divide. Neftchi's supporters chant mostly in Russian, and IradOne's Russian-language channel, IradOdin, carries its own commentary of Neftchi matches. Tulpar's supporters chant in Iradi and English. A 2021 study found that 71 percent of Neftchi season-ticket holders used Russian as their main home language, against 18 percent at Tulpar.[4]

The rivalry also tracks the dispute between Bekzatov and the Toktarov family. Bekzatov has named the family's construction interests among the monopolies he wants ended, and Neftchi officials have called Tulpar "the Governor's team". In 2016 the weekly Irad Times reported that Tulpar had received municipal land and tax relief through its owner's property group. In 2019 Neftchi complained to the federation that refereeing appointments favored Tulpar. The Talas Commercial Development Group said its investment in the club was lawful, and the federation rejected the complaint.[5] DPI-aligned commentators, for their part, have described Neftchi's supporters' groups as a channel for Russian influence. Bekzatov has called this claim "politics dressed as football".[2]

Supporters' groups

  • Vyshka ("Derrick"), Neftchi's main group, was founded in 1999 in the city's mikrorayon estates. It occupies the east stand of the NurGaz Stadium.
  • Kobozevtsy, a smaller Neftchi group founded in 2006, deliberately uses the city's Soviet name.
  • Jolbors ("Snow Leopard"), Tulpar's main group, was founded in 2004.
  • Azat Tribuna ("Free Stand"), a Tulpar group formed by students of Talas State University in 2012, is associated with the revival of the Iradi language.[4]

Tulpar supporters taunt the black-clad Neftchi fans as "Morkhan's herd", a reference to the bull-headed pagan god whom Iradi Christians identify with Satan. Vyshka has adopted the black as a badge of pride.[4]

Notable incidents

  • 2014 riot. On 11 May 2014, two days after the Victory Day parade in Nurzhan, Neftchi supporters at the NurGaz Stadium displayed St. George ribbons and a banner reading "Kobozev – Russian city". Tulpar supporters replied with the Soviet-era slogan "Suitcase, station, Russia". Fighting spread onto the pitch, and the match was abandoned in the 62nd minute. About 60 people were injured, and the Republican Gendarmerie of Irad detained about 140. The federation banned away supporters from the derby for two seasons. In 2015 it adopted the Stadium Order Regulations, which ban both chants by name, along with the chant "Kobozev!".[6]
  • 2022 fine. In March 2022 the federation fined Neftchi after Vyshka displayed banners supporting Russia's invasion of Ukraine. NurGaz said the club did not endorse them.[5]
  • 2023 protests. Members of Jolbors and Azat Tribuna took part in the 2023 Student Protests in Talas. Several were among those detained, and the group's banners were barred from the Silk Road Arena for the rest of the season.[7]
  • 2025 joint banner. At the derby in Talas on 2 March 2025, after the 2025 Trump Remarks on Irad, both sets of supporters displayed the banner "Irad is not for sale" in Russian and Iradi. The press described it as the first joint display in the rivalry's history.[8]

The derby has also prompted speculation about elite alliances. In September 2025 Major General Ruslan Toktarov watched a derby at the NurGaz Stadium from the club box. Talas tabloids read his attendance as a sign of contacts with Bekzatov. Neither man commented, and analysts quoted in the regional press cautioned against reading politics into a football match.[2]

Statistics

By the end of the 2025 season the clubs had met 118 times in the Irad League. Neftchi had won 46 matches and Tulpar 43, and 29 had been drawn. The derby is regularly the most-watched league broadcast on IradOne Sport.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ Football Federation of Irad (2025). Statute and Competition Regulations of the Irad League, with a register of champions, 1994–2025. Talas.
  2. ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2024). 'The Petroleum Oligarchy: Kamran Bekzatov and the Russo Faction.' Vol. 31, Iss. 2, pp. 88–104.
  3. ^ Nurzhan Polytechnic Institute (2008). Neftyanik: Fifty Years of Football in Kobozev and Nurzhan. Nurzhan.
  4. ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2021). 'Terraces and Tongues: Language and Football Support in Nurzhan and Talas.' Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 45–68.
  5. ^ Irad Times (2016–2022). Reports on club finance and discipline in the Irad League. Talas.
  6. ^ Talas Herald (May 12, 2014). 'Derby Abandoned after Riot at NurGaz Stadium.' Talas.
  7. ^ Human Rights Watch (2024). 'Water Cannon and Detention: The 2023 Protests in Talas.' New York.
  8. ^ Talas Herald (March 3, 2025). '"Not for Sale": Rival Fans Unite at Silk Road Arena.' Talas.
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