Kairat Almaty

Formed: 2001
UEFA Futsal Cup best performance: winners 2013

Domestic honours (most recent)
• League title: 11 (2014)
• Kazakh Cup: 7 (2013)

Main round: bye
Elite round: MFK VitEn Vitebsk 9-0, KMF Tango Sarajevo 9-0, Tulpar Karagandy 7-1 (Group C winners)

History
• Previously known as Kaynur, they took their current name in 2001 in honour of businessman Kairat Orazbekov, who helped found the club and is now their president. His finances are behind their huge success, as they have dominated the local scene and made a mark in Europe.

• In only their second UEFA Futsal Cup campaign in 2005/06 they got to the semi-finals, finishing ahead of SL Benfica in their second qualifying round group having held the Eagles 3-3.

• Kairat's achievement, Kazakhstan's best in any UEFA competition, drew widespread attention. Their semi-final against MFK Dinamo, which they lost 8-2 on aggregate was televised nationally and the home leg was moved to the 4,000-capacity Baluan Sholak Sport Palace, proving an instant sell-out.

• They made the second four-team final tournament two years later and did so again in 2009, beating Dinamo for third place. Then in 2011 they returned and were given the honour of hosting Kazakhstan's first UEFA final tournament at any level, finishing third.

• As their domestic monopoly continued, they missed out on the 2012 finals on goal difference courtesy of a last-gasp Cirilo equaliser for Dinamo in Moscow. Although coach João Carlos Barbosa left in February 2013 for Russian side Sibiryak, that did not stop them sealing yet another league title and Cacau led them to UEFA Futsal Cup victory in Tbilisi, beating FC Barcelona and FC Dynamo.

• They have now reached a sixth semi-final, beating national rivals Tulpar in their elite round decider. However, key man Leo Santana then switched to Sibiryak and Betão also left for his native Brazil, though it did not stop them clinching an 11th league title in a row.

Key players
Fumasa, Dinmukhambet Suleimenov, Euler

Coach: Cacau

Date of birth: 16 September 1971
Nationality: Brazilian
Playing career: A BC De Natal, América De Natal, AABB Natal, Votorantim De Recife, Confiança De Sergipe, Perdigão De Marau, Vasco Ulbra, Tio Sam EC, CR Vasco da Gama, Fluminense FC, Malwee Futsal, Club Atlético Mineiro, Playas de Castellón FS, FS Cartagena, Muebles Calloto, MFK Spartak Moskva. Kairat Almaty, FK EP Chrudim
Coaching career: FK EP Chrudim, Czech Republic (assistant), Kairat Almaty

Ricardo Cámara Sobral 'Cacau' has won championships as a player in Brazil, Kazakhstan and the Czech Republic and is now back at Kairat to coach them at the UEFA Futsal Cup finals. In a long playing career, which took in a spell at the club he supports, Vasco de Gama, he represented many leading clubs including a spell in Spain.

Joining Kairat in 2004, he helped them establish themselves on a European level, reaching three UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals including a third place in 2009, after which he joined Czech side Chrudim, where he became player coach. Just before joining the Czech national set-up for the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup, his Chrudim side were denied a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup finals with a 6-5 elite round loss to Kairat.

However, in February 2013 he temporarily left Chrudim for Kairat on a three-month deal to become coach for the club finals in Tbilisi following Barbosa's departure, and they won the trophy. He subsequently joined permanently after returning to aid another Czech title for Chrudim.