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

Let us remind you that each award is named after a famous figure in Kazakh football. The award for the best midfielder of the season is named in honor of Anton Shokh.

Anton Shokh is a graduate of the Zhambyl Football School. At the age of 17, Anton Rokhusovich made his debut for Khimik and scored 10 goals in his very first season. He also spent seven years (1979–1985) playing for Kairat Almaty, where he scored 21 goals.

In 1986, he transferred to one of the top clubs in the USSR at the time — Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

As part of Dnipro, Anton Shokh became the USSR champion and cup winner, scoring the decisive goal in the final. The team also performed successfully in the European Cup (the predecessor of the UEFA Champions League), reaching the quarterfinals before losing to Lisbon’s Benfica.

In addition, Shokh won two silver medals in the USSR championship and claimed the Super Cup with Dnipro. He was called up to the USSR Olympic team and was a candidate for the senior national squad. Along with Eduard Son and Alexander Khapsalis, he is one of the three representatives of Kazakh football who won the title of USSR champion.

In 2023, the Best Midfielder award went to Kairat’s Olzhas Baibek, while the following season it was claimed by Shakhtyor’s Roman Assylbayev.

This year’s long list includes five players: Ruslan Rakhmetov (Irtysh), Aliden Mussaipov (Kairat), Naiman Satenov (Shakhtyor), Kudiret Botabek (Ordabasy) and Daniyal Nazarov (Astana).

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