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

Each award is named after one of Kazakhstan’s football legends. The prize for the best defender of the season bears the name of Evgeniy Yarovenko.

Evgeniy Yarovenko is a Soviet and Kazakh footballer, as well as an analyst and ambassador of the Freedom QJ League.

An Olympic champion, Honored Master of Sports of the USSR, and recipient of the UEFA Jubilee Award as the most outstanding Kazakh footballer of the past 50 years (1954–2003). At the age of 17, he joined the team “Phosphorit,” and in 1981 became a player of the main regional team — “Khimik” from Dzhambul.

Two years later, Yarovenko was invited to the Almaty-based “Kairat,” which played in the USSR Top League. He made his debut against Dynamo Kyiv, quickly secured a place in the starting lineup, and in 1986 became the team captain. That same year, he received a call-up to the USSR Olympic team.

In 1988, he took part in the Seoul Olympics, where the Soviet team won gold. Yarovenko played in the final against Brazil, marking Romário. He remains the only Olympic champion among players raised within Kazakh football.

In 2023, the Best Defender award went to Ruslan Zakharov of “Zhas Kyran,” and the following season, the prize was awarded to Amirbek Bazarbayev (“Kairat”).

This year’s long list includes five players: Vasiliy Leontyev (“Shakhtyor”), Akezhan Kalikulov (“Kairat”), Ramzes Rashidov (“Zhas Kyran”), Alikhan Zheksenbek (“Astana”), and Talant Kuanysh (“Ordabasy”).

The winner of the award will be announced at the QJ League Awards ceremony on November 1.