Maksim Zhalmagambetov (russian: link=no, Максим Жалмағамбетов) is a Kazakh

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender. He is currently in the starting XI of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

Early career

Maksim had graduated from his hometown FC Astana and had played in its different feeder clubs, before he eventually got to the first team in 2004.

International career

At the age of 21, Maksim earned his first cap on 17 November 2004 in WC 2006 qualifier against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Maksim would have played all

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

qualifiers, unless being sent off in a match against

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

for punching a defender in face, and therefore getting 3 games ban.

Royal Antwerp switch

On 31 January 2008, along with Sergei Ostapenko, Maksim signed a two-year contract with

Royal Antwerp F.C. Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

The Belgium team's manager noted that the duo's youth, international experience and physical characteristics were strong arguments to accomplish the deal. However, his European journey was not quite successful and he only started in one game for the reds. Both he and Sergei Ostapenko shortly returned to Astana in the middle of the

Kazakhstan Premier League 2008 The 2008 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 17th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan, and took place between 8 March and 5 November. Teams For the 2007 season, Megasport and Energetik we ...

.Sports.kz
7 June 2008

Club career stats

Last update: 10 December 2010

Honours

* Kazakhstan Champion:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

* Kazakhstan Cup Winner:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

References

External links

Profile at KFF website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhalmagambetov, Maksim Living people 1983 births Kazakhstani men's footballers Men's association football defenders Royal Antwerp F.C. players Kazakhstan men's international footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Sportspeople from Astana FC Astana players FC Zhenis players