Green Urban: The Corporate Football ESG League Is Here!

On August 24, a presentation of Kazakhstan’s Corporate ESG League was held, bringing together major companies that actively promote corporate sports.

The project was initiated by the GPI Group of Companies and the Vista Sports Club, with support from the Kazakhstan Football Federation (KFF). The League was organized to promote a healthy lifestyle, develop a culture of corporate sport, and popularize regular physical activity.

The meeting was moderated by Rustam Yakupbayev, Managing Partner of GPI Group.

Previously, at a Green Urban community event, GPI Group and the Vista Sports Club signed a Memorandum on the joint promotion of corporate and mass-participation sport, which initiated the creation of the corporate football ESG League.

“We created the corporate football ESG League because promoting a healthy lifestyle within companies and corporations has become a highly relevant issue. People get sick less often, teams become more cohesive, performance indicators rise, and organizational efficiency increases overall — and this all contributes to the development of mass sport and an active, healthy population. Strong, healthy employees are a company’s greatest asset,” noted Rustam Yakupbayev, Managing Partner of GPI Group.

“Today, Vista Sports Club already operates two large functioning amateur leagues: JKFL and the Yard League. As experienced organizers of sports championships, we guarantee a professional, high-level running of the League,” noted Alexander Razinkov, President and Founder of the Republican Football League of Private Football Clubs, JKFL.

What the corporate ESG League offers:

• Regular championship matches with fair officiating and statistics;
• Master classes, football camps, sports festivals;
• Promotion of corporate spirit through sport.

“We thank the organizers and support the creation of the League! Before joining the Football Federation, I worked for a long time at a major national corporation, so I understand how important it is to develop corporate sport. Today, in international companies, spending on corporate sport is no longer considered a cost but an investment,” noted Andrei Dudin, Secretary General of the KFF.

The rules and terms of joining the League were presented by Yerlan Dzhamantayev, advisor to the CEO of Vista Sports Club and former president of FC Aktobe (2021–2023), a member of the UEFA committee.

“Matches will be held in an 8-a-side format, in a double round-robin system. This is the optimal format for amateurs. During the games, full safety and timely medical assistance will be ensured, along with parity among participants, fair and transparent officiating, online broadcasts of matches, and video assistance for referees to ensure fair judging,” noted Yerlan Dzhamantayev.

The League will start in Astana, and according to the organizers’ plans will later expand to Almaty and other cities. League winners will be able to represent Kazakhstan in international World Corporate Football championships — a global organization whose goal is to promote the development of amateur corporate football leagues.

We are confident that the corporate ESG League will grow to a large scale in Kazakhstan, and that its participants will be able to compete worthily on the international stage.

On behalf of the organizers, we thank the following companies for their active participation in the presentation: Kazakhtelecom JSC, Kazpost JSC, Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan, ERG, AIFC, Jusan Garant, Bank CenterCredit, Otbasy Bank, Bi Group, Sensata Group, and others.