The 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 25th season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. Astana were the defending champions having won their second league championship the previous year, and they successfully defended their title this season. The season began on 12 March 2016 and concluded on 29 October 2016; the relegation play-off took place on 5 November 2016.
Teams
FC Kaisar was relegated at the end of the 2015 season, and was replaced by Akzhayik.
In the regular season twelve teams played each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 22 matches per team. The top six teams advanced to the Championship round and the bottom six teams qualified for the Relegation round.[19]
Source: Soccerway Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Championship round
The top six teams from the regular season will participate in the Championship round where they will play each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to the previous season, teams will carry forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Championship round the winners will be the Champions of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League and qualify for 2017–18 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. The runners-up and third-placed team will qualify for Europa League first qualifying round and the fourth-placed team will also qualify for Europa League because one of the top three teams will win the 2016 Kazakhstan Cup.[19]
Source: Soccerway Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Play-off (only if deciding champion when two teams are tied); 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head matches won; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goals scored; 7) Head-to-head away goals scored; 8) Goal difference; 9) Matches won; 10) Goals scored; 11) Away goals scored; 12) Draw.[21] (C) Champions Notes:
^Astana qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016 Kazakhstan Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.
Source: Soccerway Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Relegation round
The worst six teams from the regular season participated in the Relegation round where they played each other home-and-away in a round-robin format for a total of 10 matches per team. In contrast to the previous season, teams carried forward their entire regular season record, with no halving of points. After completion of the Relegation round the winners are considered the 7th-placed team of 2016 Kazakhstan Premier League, the runners-up being 8th and so on, with the last team being 12th. The 11th-placed team, Taraz, qualified for the relegation play-off against Altai Semey, the runners-up of 2016 Kazakhstan First Division, with the losing team being eliminated, and the 12th-placed team, Zhetysu, will be directly relegated to 2017 Kazakhstan First Division as the last-placed team.[19]
^По обоюдному согласию. fc-aktobe.kz/ (in Russian). FC Aktobe. 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.