Kazakhstan defeats Liechtenstein 4:0 in 2026 World Cup qualifier

The game took place at the Astana Arena and was officiated by a team of referees led by Pawel Raczkowski of Poland.

Line-ups:

Kazakhstan: Seisen, Kairov, Kasym, Alip, Vorogovskiy, Zaynutdinov, Kuat, Samorodov, Orazov, Kenzhebek, Chesnokov.

Liechtenstein: Büchel, Hofer, Schlegel, Gäppel, Notaro, Sele, Hasler, Kindle, Lüchinger, Zünd, Hasler.

The hosts pressed high from the opening minutes and broke the deadlock in the 26th minute with a powerful long-range strike from Galymzhan Kenzhebek into the top corner. Two minutes later, Kenzhebek assisted Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov, who doubled the lead with a precise finish into an empty net.

Before halftime, Liechtenstein came close to pulling one back, but Alibek Kasym cleared the ball off the goal line. The second half continued under Kazakhstan’s control. Kenzhebek added another spectacular goal to his tally, and Kasym sealed the final score at 4:0.

Maksim Samorodov received a yellow card during the match — his second in the current qualifying campaign — which means he will miss the upcoming game against North Macedonia scheduled for the night of October 13–14 in Skopje.

Before the Liechtenstein match, Kazakhstan had three points in the group standings, having earned their only victory against the same opponent earlier in the campaign. That encounter in Vaduz ended with a 2:0 away win for the Kazakh team.

As earlier reported, FC Kairat’s forward Dastan Satpaev will miss Kazakhstan’s upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against Liechtenstein and North Macedonia due to injury.