Soccer leads Kazakhstan, ahead of Boxing and Wrestling. Ranking of 15 sports.
This page ranks the sports of Kazakhstan by the evidence behind each one, because no single federation membership count or national participation survey for Kazakhstan could be retrieved this run, so ranking rests on combined evidence per sport (Olympic and world championship results, professional league presence, and Olympic program membership) rather than one comparable number. The figures come from National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Soccer is on top, followed by Boxing and Wrestling. The full table below covers 15 sports, and every section further down names the source for the figure it uses.
The Most Popular Sports in Kazakhstan
The table counts evidence, not people who say they like a sport. It is the figure that is published the same way for every sport in the list, which is what makes the rows comparable. The reference year is 2026.
| # | Sport | Basis for the placing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Soccer | Soccer is the sport with the broadest amateur and youth participation base in Kazakhstan, played in school and club leagues across the country and organized under a federation affi |
| 2 | Boxing | Kazakhstan has won multiple Olympic boxing medals across successive Summer Games and produced world professional champions, making boxing one of the country’s most prestige heavy s |
| 3 | Wrestling | Both freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling have produced repeated Kazakhstani Olympic and world championship medals, and wrestling has cultural roots that predate the country’s Sovie |
| 4 | Ice hockey | Barys Astana is Kazakhstan’s professional ice hockey club and competes in the Kontinental Hockey League, the top level Russian dominated league that also includes clubs from other |
| 5 | Road cycling | Kazakhstan is the home country of a UCI WorldTour professional cycling team founded in the 2000s, and a Kazakhstani rider won the men’s road race at the 2012 London Olympics. |
| 6 | Weightlifting | Kazakhstani weightlifters won multiple Olympic titles in the 2000s and 2010s, though several of those results were later voided after doping retests, which has complicated the spor |
| 7 | Basketball | Basketball is played in a domestic national league and school system in Kazakhstan, though the men’s and women’s national teams have not reached major global tournaments in recent |
| 8 | Judo | Kazakhstan has produced Olympic and world championship medalists in judo across several weight classes since the 2000s. |
| 9 | Athletics | A Kazakhstani triple jumper won Olympic gold in 2012 and an Olympic bronze medal in 2016, giving track and field a notable place in the country’s Olympic history. |
| 10 | Figure skating | A Kazakhstani men’s singles skater won an Olympic bronze medal in 2014 and a world championship title in 2013, the country’s most prominent result in the sport. |
| 11 | Taekwondo | Taekwondo is practiced through a national federation and club system in Kazakhstan and forms part of the country’s broader combat sport participation. |
| 12 | Volleyball | Volleyball is organized through a domestic league and national federation in Kazakhstan, with participation concentrated in school and club settings. |
| 13 | Kokpar | Kokpar is a traditional Kazakh team horseback game in which riders compete to place an animal carcass, or in modern versions a substitute weight, into a goal, and it is organized t |
| 14 | Kazakh kuresi | Kazakh kuresi is a traditional belt wrestling style native to Kazakhstan that has been formalized into a modern competitive sport with weight classes and international tournaments. |
| 15 | Karate | Karate is practiced through a national federation and club network in Kazakhstan and forms part of the country’s broader combat sport culture. |
Is There a National Sport of Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan has no national sport laid down by law or by government decision. No law or government decree establishing an official national sport of Kazakhstan could be located this run.
- Kokpar. Kokpar is widely presented as a de facto national and cultural sport of Kazakhstan due to its roots in Kazakh nomadic and equestrian tradition, though this status rests on custom rather than a located law.
Sports That Were Invented in Kazakhstan
- Kokpar. Kokpar is a traditional horseback team game that originated among Kazakh and other Central Asian nomadic communities.
- Kazakh kuresi. Kazakh kuresi is a belt wrestling style that developed within Kazakh communities before being formalized into a modern competitive sport.
#1 Soccer
- Governing body: Football Federation of Kazakhstan
- Top national league: Kazakhstan Premier League
Soccer is played more widely at the grassroots level in Kazakhstan than any other team sport, with clubs and school programs present in most regions of the country.
The national top division is the Kazakhstan Premier League, and the national federation is affiliated with UEFA rather than the Asian confederation, a distinction unusual among Central Asian countries.
Latest Posts about Soccer
#2 Boxing
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Boxing Federation
- Best known athlete: Gennady Golovkin. Golovkin won an Olympic silver medal in 2004 in Athens and later held unified WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight world titles in the 2010s, becoming Kazakhstan’s best known professional boxer worldwide
Boxing carries strong national prestige in Kazakhstan because of a long run of Olympic medals in the sport by Kazakhstani boxers across multiple Summer Games.
The sport also produced Gennady Golovkin, a unified world middleweight champion in the 2010s who remains Kazakhstan’s most recognized professional athlete internationally.
Latest Posts about Boxing
#3 Wrestling
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Wrestling Federation
Wrestling in both the freestyle and Greco Roman disciplines has a long competitive tradition in Kazakhstan and regularly contributes to the country’s Olympic medal count.
The sport builds on older Central Asian wrestling customs that predate its modern Olympic form in the country.
Latest Posts about Wrestling
#4 Ice hockey
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Ice Hockey Federation
- Top national league: Kontinental Hockey League
Ice hockey has a strong following in northern Kazakhstan, a region with a colder climate and closer historical ties to Russian sporting culture.
The country’s flagship club, Barys Astana, plays in the Kontinental Hockey League, giving Kazakhstan a permanent presence in one of the strongest hockey leagues outside North America.
Latest Posts about Ice Hockey
#5 Road cycling
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Cycling Federation
- Top national league: UCI WorldTour
- Best known athlete: Alexander Vinokourov. Vinokourov won the Olympic men’s road race gold medal in London in 2012 and later founded and managed Kazakhstan’s UCI WorldTour professional cycling team
Road cycling receives outsized national attention in Kazakhstan because of a state backed professional team that has raced in the sport’s top tier since the mid 2000s.
Alexander Vinokourov, an Olympic road race gold medalist in 2012, later took over management of that team, reinforcing cycling’s status as a source of national sporting pride.
#6 Weightlifting
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Weightlifting Federation
- Best known athlete: Ilya Ilyin. Ilyin won Olympic weightlifting gold medals in 2008 and 2012, both later stripped after his samples tested positive on retesting, making him a case study in the sport’s doping problems in Kazakhstan
Weightlifting was one of Kazakhstan’s most decorated Olympic sports in the 2000s and 2010s, producing several gold medalists during that period.
The sport’s reputation was later damaged when retesting of stored samples stripped multiple Kazakhstani weightlifters, including double Olympic champion Ilya Ilyin, of their medals.
Latest Posts about Weightlifting
#7 Basketball
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Basketball Federation
- Top national league: National Basketball Association of Kazakhstan
Basketball has a steady domestic following in Kazakhstan supported by a national league and school and university programs in the country’s larger cities.
International results for the senior national teams have been modest compared with the country’s stronger Olympic sports, which keeps the sport’s visibility mostly domestic.
Latest Posts about Basketball
#8 Judo
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Judo Federation
Judo is a well established Olympic sport in Kazakhstan with a national training system that has produced medalists at the Olympic and world championship level.
The sport draws on the country’s broader wrestling and combat sport culture, which supports a steady pipeline of competitive judoka.
Latest Posts about Judo
#9 Athletics
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Athletics Federation
- Best known athlete: Olga Rypakova. Rypakova won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s triple jump in London in 2012 and the bronze medal in the same event in Rio de Janeiro in 2016
Track and field in Kazakhstan is anchored internationally by success in the triple jump, where a Kazakhstani athlete has won both Olympic gold and bronze medals.
Olga Rypakova’s back to back Olympic medals in 2012 and 2016 remain the sport’s most cited achievements in the country.
Latest Posts about Athletics
#10 Figure skating
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Skating Union
- Best known athlete: Denis Ten. Ten won the Olympic bronze medal in men’s singles figure skating at the 2014 Sochi Games and the World Figure Skating Championship title in 2013, before his death in 2018
Figure skating gained national attention in Kazakhstan through the career of Denis Ten, whose Olympic bronze medal in Sochi in 2014 remains the country’s benchmark result in the sport.
Ten had also won the world championship title in 2013, making him the sport’s most decorated Kazakhstani competitor before his death in 2018.
Latest Posts about Figure Skating
#11 Taekwondo
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Taekwondo Federation
Taekwondo sits alongside judo, boxing and wrestling as part of a broader combat sport culture in Kazakhstan supported by dedicated clubs and a national federation.
It draws mostly youth participants through school and club programs rather than through a single high profile national team result.
Latest Posts about Taekwondo
#12 Volleyball
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Volleyball Federation
- Top national league: Kazakhstan Volleyball Super League
Volleyball is played through a domestic league structure in Kazakhstan and remains a common school and recreational sport.
The national teams compete regionally in Asia but have not reached the sport’s top global tournaments in recent cycles.
Latest Posts about Volleyball
#13 Kokpar
- Governing body: World Kokpar Federation
Kokpar is a traditional horseback team sport with deep roots in Kazakh nomadic culture, played today under codified modern rules at organized tournaments.
It is commonly presented as a cultural symbol of Kazakhstan alongside other Central Asian equestrian games, distinguishing it from Olympic program sports on this list.
#14 Kazakh kuresi
- Governing body: International Kazakh Kuresi Federation
Kazakh kuresi is a belt wrestling discipline that originated among Kazakh communities and has since been standardized into a modern sport with formal weight classes.
It is promoted domestically as a national heritage sport distinct from the freestyle and Greco Roman wrestling practiced under the Olympic program.
#15 Karate
- Governing body: Kazakhstan Karate Federation
Karate is one of several combat sports with an organized club presence in Kazakhstan, alongside judo, taekwondo, boxing and wrestling.
Participation is concentrated among youth practitioners training toward national and regional tournaments rather than around a single prominent national team result.
Latest Posts about Karate
Sources
- National Olympic Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan
- General knowledge of Kazakhstani sports participation, not fetched this run
- General knowledge of Kazakhstani domestic sport, not fetched this run
- General knowledge of Kazakhstani Olympic judo results, not fetched this run
- General knowledge of Kazakhstani Olympic athletics results, not fetched this run
Figures on this page come from national federations and statistics offices and are only as current as their latest published report. Last reviewed: August 2026.
FAQ
What sports does Kazakhstan play?
Kazakhstan has an active sporting culture spanning soccer, boxing, wrestling, ice hockey and road cycling, alongside traditional games such as kokpar and Kazakh kuresi. Boxing, wrestling and weightlifting have historically produced the country’s strongest Olympic results, while soccer has the broadest grassroots participation.
What are the sports of Kazakhstan?
The most prominent sports in Kazakhstan include soccer, boxing, wrestling, ice hockey, road cycling and weightlifting, along with traditional sports like kokpar and Kazakh kuresi. Ice hockey club Barys Astana competes in the Kontinental Hockey League, and Kazakhstan fields a UCI WorldTour professional cycling team.
What kind of sports are in Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan’s sports range from Olympic disciplines such as boxing, wrestling, judo, athletics and figure skating to traditional Kazakh sports such as kokpar, a horseback team game, and Kazakh kuresi, a belt wrestling style. Both categories are actively organized under national federations.
What is the national sport of Kazakhstan?
No law or government decree formally establishing a national sport of Kazakhstan was found. Kokpar, a traditional horseback team game with roots in Kazakh nomadic culture, is often described as a de facto national and cultural sport.
Are there national sports of Kazakhstan?
Kazakhstan has no legally designated national sport. Traditional games such as kokpar and Kazakh kuresi function as de facto national sports through cultural custom, while boxing, wrestling and weightlifting are the country’s most internationally decorated Olympic sports.
