Neftchi are champions: gold on the final day, 63 points to 62
Neftchi Nurzhan beat Tulpar Talas 2–1 in the Kara-Ak derby and finished one point ahead in the table. It is the Nurzhan club's fourteenth league title.
On Saturday 31 October, at a sold-out NurGaz Stadium, Neftchi Nurzhan beat Tulpar Talas 2–1. The match kicked off at 18:00 Irad Time and was the last round, the 27th, of the national championship.
Before the game Tulpar led the table: 62 points to Neftchi's 60. The visitors needed only a draw, but the Nurzhan side's win changed everything: Neftchi now have 63 points and Tulpar are left with 62. Dastgoh Nurzhan took third place with 42 points.
It is the club's fourteenth Irad League title (1994–2026) and their second in a row: Neftchi kept the 2025 gold. Tulpar are runners-up. As IradOne reported on Tuesday, the League announced the result on iradleague.com.
Naryn Tash-Kömür finished bottom with 8 points and go down to the First League.
Murod Turgunov, 72, has been coming to this ground since the days when it was called Neftyanik. "I don't remember a season ending like this," he says. "We waited until the last minute, and it came."
Recall what former Neftchi captain Yegor Gromov said before the 2019 derby: "A derby is not football, it is weather." This year the weather was Nurzhan's.
The date of the trophy presentation has not yet been announced. Tomorrow, Saturday 7 November, at 14:00 at the Silk Road Arena in Talas, Neftchi play Attelkom Talas in the Irad Cup final. The editors will follow developments.
