16,500 seats, 1,200 for Tulpar: how the title decider was sold

The Irad League title will be decided on the last day of the season, at the NurGaz Stadium in Nurzhan, between the two clubs that have won 24 of its 31 championships. Tulpar Talas lead Neftchi Nurzhan by four points with two rounds to play. Tickets went on sale on Monday. By Tuesday afternoon the club said the match was sold out.

The stadium holds 16,500. Neftchi has given Tulpar 1,200 tickets, the minimum the federation’s rules allow for visiting supporters, in the south-west corner behind netting. Under the Stadium Order Regulations of 2015, away tickets are sold only through the visiting club, to named holders whose identity documents are checked at the gate.

Of the home tickets, the club put about 6,000 on public sale. The rest went to season-ticket holders, to NurGaz and its subsidiaries for staff, and to what the club calls “partner organisations”. A Neftchi official said that was normal for a final-day match. Rustam Bekzatov, the club’s president, has not commented.

Two buses, one road

Tulpar’s supporters’ groups, Jolbors and Azat Tribuna, said they had asked for 2,000 tickets. The Gendarmerie has told them visiting fans will travel in escorted buses that leave Talas at 11:00 and return straight after the final whistle. Fans who drive themselves will be turned back at the Gendarmerie checkpoint on the Chu bridge.

The last time the two sets of supporters shared the NurGaz Stadium in numbers was on 11 May 2014, when the match was abandoned in the 62nd minute after fighting in the stands. About 60 people were hurt and about 140 detained, and Tulpar fans were banned from away matches in Nurzhan for two seasons.

The Times asked IradOne Sport, which holds the broadcast rights, whether the match would be shown on free-to-air television in full. It said the match would be shown “in line with the federation’s broadcast schedule”. Kick-off is at 18:00.