FFK intervened in passport row
Aynur Kuramysova
The Football Federation of Kazakhstan (FFK) has formed a working committee on players’ citizenship confirmation, the FFK website says.
"Upon repeated reports in the media and official address of the Megapolis newspaper to the FFK, it was resolved to establish a special commission led by FFK vice president Olzhas Abraev. The Federation is shortly sending to the relevant authorities a request for authentication of the issued identity documents to the players, whose names appeared in the media in this case, - the statement says.
Information concerning legality of obtaining Kazakhstan nationality by individual players will be provided after response from the state bodies.
According to the Megapolis newspaper, a Macedonian footballer playing for Kostanay’s Tobol team- Nikola Tonev has no Kazakhstan passport. In the application for playing in the season he is indicated as a Kazakhstani, but he allegedly did not apply for Kazakhstan citizenship.
There is a picture on the Facebook, in which Tonev is showing his passport, but reporters claim the document is a fake in it. The official reply from the Interior Ministry states that according to the database on the population’s documenting, passport of Kazakhstan’s citizen has not been issued in the name of Nicola Tonev.
It is not the first passport scandal in Kazakhstan football. A few years ago Zaurbek Pliev who played for "Astana" as a Kazakhstani moved to Vladikavkaz team "Alania" and played as a Russian citizen in it, as it later expired.
