Freedom QJ League 2025: Who made the long list for Best Goalkeeper?

Each award is named in honor of a distinguished figure in Kazakhstani football. The prize for the Best Goalkeeper of the season bears the name of Alexander Ubykin.

Alexander Sergeyevich Ubykin was a Soviet footballer and goalkeeper, a Kazakhstani coach, and a USSR Master of Sport.

He began playing football in his hometown of Almaty. At the age of 16, under coach Anatoly Matveyevich Romko, he moved to Pskov, where he spent three years playing for Elektron and Mashynostroitel.

In 1972, he was drafted into the army and played for Zvezda of Vyborg in the Leningrad regional championship. He was later noticed by scouts from the army club in Rostov, where he spent three seasons.

In 1976, Ubykin returned to his home club Kairat, which had just regained its right to play in the top division. By 1980, he had become Kairat’s first-choice goalkeeper. He made 207 appearances in the top league and 50 in the first division for the Almaty side. In 1988, he played for Traktor Pavlodar, helping the club fight for promotion.

Ubykin devoted over 35 years to coaching, working in various football schools and clubs across Kazakhstan, and for many years served as the goalkeeper coach of Kairat Almaty.

In 2023, the award for Best Goalkeeper went to Sayatkhan Kussainov of Aktobe, while the following year the Alexander Ubykin Award was presented to Yan Lalov of Shakhtyor.

This season’s long list includes five goalkeepers: Madiyar Toleubek (Irtysh), Bakhtiyar Aldashev (Kairat), Makhmudzhan Sungatullin (Zhas Kyran), Sanzhar Rakhmatilya (Taraz), and Sayan Nasikhatuly (Atyrau).

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