Islambek Yerzhanuly Kuat ( kk, Исламбек Ержанұлы Қуат, ''İslambek Erjanūly Quat''; born 12 January 1993) is a Kazakh footballer who plays for

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmo ...

and the Kazakhstan national team. Kuat scored his first goal for Kazakhstan on 10 October 2015 in a 2–1 defeat against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in a

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

qualifier.

Career

Club

On 30 December 2019,

FC Kairat Football Club Kairat ( kk, Qaırat Fýtbol Klýby) is a professional association football, football club based in Almaty, which plays in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh football. Founded in 1954 ...

confirmed Kuat's departure from the club at the end of his contract. On 1 January 2020,

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Orenburg FC Orenburg (russian: ФК «Оренбург») is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club from Orenburg, founded in 1976. It will return to the Russian Premier League for the 2022–23 season. History It ...

announced the signing of Kuat. On 30 July 2020, his Orenburg contract was terminated by mutual consent. On 11 September 2020 he joined

club

FC Khimki FC Khimki (russian: ФК Химки) is a Russian professional football club based in Khimki. The club returned to the Russian Premier League in the 2020–21 season. History The team was formed in 1996 by merging two amateur clubs from Khimki, ...

. On 13 March 2021, his contract with Khimki was terminated by mutual consent. On 16 March 2021,

FC Astana Astana Football Club ( kk, Astana Futbol Kluby) is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,254-seat Astana Arena stadium. Th ...

announced that they had re-signed Kuat after he'd previously played for the club between 2010 and 2014.

International

Kuat became very well known in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, thanks to his goal against

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, which enabled the Turkish team to qualify direct as the best third-placed side in the

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

. It was even suggested that a street in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

be named in honour of Kuat, while more than one fan on social media promised to name their children in honour of the midfielder. A dozen Turkish fans presented him with gifts and a bouquet of flowers, and thanked him personally at half-time during Kairat's game against

Atyrau Atyrau ( kk, Атырау, ', ; russian: Атырау, ), known until 1991 as Guryev (russian: Гурьев, ), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Cas ...

on 17 October.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Kazakhstan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

; Kairat *

Kazakhstan Cup The Kazakhstan Cup is the main knockout cup competition in Kazakhstan football, run by the Football Federation of Kazakhstan. The tournament was initially founded in 1936 as a competition for clubs in the Kazakh SSR ; kk, Қазақ Сове� ...

(2):

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuat, Islambek 1993 births Sportspeople from Astana Living people Kazakhstani men's footballers Kazakhstan men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Kazakhstan Premier League players FC Aktobe players FC Astana players FC Okzhetpes players FC Kairat players FC Orenburg players FC Khimki players Kazakhstani expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Russian Premier League players