Founding The club was founded in 1954 as
Lokomotiv Alma-Ata on the basis of the football club
Dinamo Alma-Ata. Heretofore, Dinamo was developed by
Nikolai Starostin, who is mostly known as "the father of Soviet football" and founder of the
Spartak Moscow. His assistant Arkady Khokhman became the first head coach of the club. Lokomotiv joined Zone I of the
Class B, the second tier of Soviet football. In their debut season, they finished 4th with 11 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats. In 1955, they were reformed as
Urozhay Sports Society, which united sportsmen of agricultural sphere. In 1955, Urozhay competed in Zone II of the Class B, finishing season in 10th place. On 1 June 1956, the Council of Ministers of the
Kazakh SSR signed a decree about merger of the Urozhay Sports Society and Republican Sports Society of Collective Farmers to found new
Republican Rural Voluntary Sports Society. Under Zenkin, Kairat spent four consecutive seasons in the Class B, showing average results on final tables.
The Nation's Team (1960–1991) at the
KMC Stadium in 1968 On 21 December 1959, Soviet sports governing body adopted a resolution on expansion of
Soviet Top League teams number from 12 to 22. Ten
Soviet republics were able to enter by one team without competition, permission which was aimed to make league status more "All-Union". On 13 May 1960, Kairat registered their first Top League victory defeating
Dinamo Minsk 2–1 in away match. During the season, tactical scheme of Kairat caused a lot of discussion among football specialists. As a result, team playing style became strictly defensive. In spite of this, weaknesses in the offensive part and a poor goal scoring rate led only to 18th place in their inaugural season in the top level. Kairat stayed at the top level for another three seasons. In 1963, Kairat did their best result in the
Soviet Cup, reaching semi-final against
Shakhtar Stalino. For this accomplishment, all team members were equated the
Master of Sport of the USSR rank. After failure season in
1964, they relegated to the
Soviet First League. On 25 November 1965, they played the decisive match against
Ararat Yerevan for only spot in the Top League. Kairat lost the game 1–2. Kairat dropped once again to the First League at the end of the
1969 season under the management of Andrey Chen Ir Son. Chen Ir Son was replaced by
Aleksandr Sevidov. He steered Kairat back to the Top League, finishing as runners-up in the 1970 Soviet First League season. Next season, Sevidov left the team to head
Dynamo Kiev. The
1971 season was highly successful for the club. Under Viktor Korolkov rule, Kairat finished 8th in the Top League, a significant increase compared to previous seasons. On 12 November 1971, Kairat won the
European Railworks Cup, defeating
Rapid Bucharest 2–1 in the final. This achievement made Kairat the first Soviet team to win a European tournament. The deuce of head coaches managed the team for the next two years. In the
1977-
1978 Top League seasons, Kairat finished 8th and 12th respectively. In the
1979 season, Karat headed by the deuce of Segizbayev and
Igor Volchok led the club to 13th place in the league. In 1980, Igor Volchok, already as a sole head coach, built up the team dominantly consisted of young players. Among them were
Yevstafi Pekhlevanidi,
Vakhid Masudov,
Anton Shokh,
Sergei Volgin,
Sergei Ledovskikh and
Kurban Berdyev, who became the key players of the club in the 80s. Kairat finished the
1980 season in 12th place with 10 wins, 11 draws and 13 defeats. For the most wins with a
comeback, the team won the For the Will of Victory Prize, awarded by the
Soviet Russia newspaper. Towards the end of the season Betsa was replaced by Leonid Ostroushko. However, he did not have time to rectify the situation and they were relegated to the First League. In the final in
Kishinev, the club beat
Neftchi Baku 4–1, where all four goal scored by Kairat's forward Viktor Karachun. Therefore, the club manager
Bakhtiyar Baiseitov also headed the national team. They also reached their first
double, winning
Fosfor Taraz in the
1992 Kazakhstan Cup Final. Next season, Kairat records deteriorated sharply. The 11th place in the 1993 season led to dismissal of Baiseitov. In the end of the season, Kairat had financial troubles due to financial crisis in the country. The Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan decided to become a main sponsor and take the team under its wing. However, the half of the team did not agree with the decision to be under military control. As a result of disagreement, Kairat was divided into two teams, Kairat Sports and Health Professional Football Club, shortly Kairat SHPFC, and
Kairat-CSKA, who took sponsorship of the state military body.
Recent years and UEFA Champions League (2010–present) On 15 October 2018,
Carlos Alós left Kairat by mutual consent, with
Andrei Karpovich being appointed as Caretaker manager. On 25 November 2018, Kairat presented
Aleksey Shpilevsky as their new manager. Kairat won the
2020 Kazakhstan Premier League after sixteen years. On 7 June 2021, Aleksey Shpilevsky left Kairat to join
Erzgebirge Aue. On 24 August 2021,
Kurban Berdyev was appointed manager of the
Kazakhstan Premier League club FC Kairat. Berdyev left Kairat by mutual consent on 6 June 2022. Kirill Keker was appointed as the clubs permanent Head Coach two days later on 8 June 2022. Kairat won the
2024 Kazakhstan Premier League and qualified for the
2025–26 UEFA Champions League qualifying stage. In the first qualifying round, Kairat defeated
Olimpija Ljubljana 3–1 in on aggregate. Kairat then won the second qualifying round against
Kuopion Palloseura 3–2 on aggregate and reached the play-off round after defeating
Slovan Bratislava on penalties in the third qualifying round. On 26 August, they qualified for the
Champions League league phase for the first time in their history, defeating
Celtic in the playoffs 3–2 on penalties after both legs ended goalless. After being drawn to play against
Sporting CP in the first round of the league stage, they made history by making the longest trip in the history of the
UEFA Champions League, flying 6,900 kilometres from
Almaty to
Lisbon. == Stadium ==