Best Coach of the Freedom QJ League 2025: Who Made the Long List

Each award is named after a distinguished figure in Kazakh football. The prize for the Best Coach of the Season bears the name of Georgiy Khutidi.

Georgiy Khutidi is an Honored Coach of the Republic of Kazakhstan who opened the way into football for many of the country’s well-known players.

In the 1970s, alongside his main professional work, he coached youth football teams that regularly won the Kazakh SSR Championship and reached the finals of the Leather Ball tournament, consistently ranking among the top six teams in the USSR.

For 25 years, he coached the student team of the Zhambyl State Institute of Physical Culture, which twice won the Kazakh SSR Cup and the national championship among physical culture collectives. In 1982, the team claimed bronze medals at the All-Union Student Games in Tbilisi.

Over his career, he developed a whole generation of Kazakh footballers, including Anton Shokh, Vakhid Masudov, Dmitriy Ogay, Kairat Aimanov, and many others.

Later, while serving as a major industrial manager, he founded the Montazhnik youth football school in Taraz and personally financed the construction of a stadium where children trained. The school produced several players for FC Taraz, the most famous of whom is Yerkebulan Seydakhmet.

For five years, Khutidi was a member of the Executive Committee of the Kazakhstan Football Federation. For his long-term contribution to the development of football in Kazakhstan and the training of young players, he was awarded the title of Honored Coach of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The uniqueness of Georgiy Khutidi’s achievements lies in the fact that he became the only coach to receive this honorary title without having a formal sports education and without working in professional clubs. Coaching was never his main occupation, yet his dedication paved the way for many of Kazakhstan’s most celebrated footballers.

In 2023, the Best Coach award was won by Maksim Gabunov (Aktobe), and in the following season, it went to Ruslanzhan Raimbakiyev (Kairat).

This year’s long list includes five specialists: Igor Soloshenko (Shakhtyor), Rinat Zhiyembekov (Aktobe), Yerbol Mussabayev (Astana), Oksana Kokhannaya (Kairat), and Iskandar Geymat (Ordabasy).

The name of the award winner will be announced during the QJ League Awards ceremony, which will take place on November 1.