2012 Kazakhstan Premier League
The 2012 Kazakhstan Premier League was the 21st season of the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest football league competition in Kazakhstan. The season was scheduled to start on 9 March 2012 and to conclude on 27 October 2012 Shakhter Karagandy as the defending champions having won their first league championship last year succeeded in preservation of its league title.
The league was expanded from twelve to fourteen teams for this season.
Changes from 2011 season
The league was expanded from twelve to fourteen teams for this season. This also led to a change in the competition modus. The second phase with it separate play-off groups for championship and relegation has been abolished; all teams will play a single home-and-away round-robin schedule.Teams
PromotedRelegated
| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| Aktobe | Aktobe | Aktobe Central Stadium | 13,500 |
| Akzhayik | Oral | Petr Atoyan Stadium | 8,320 |
| Astana | Astana | Astana Arena | 30,000 |
| Atyrau | Atyrau | Munayshy Stadium | 9,000 |
| Irtysh | Pavlodar | Pavlodar Central Stadium | 15,000 |
| Kairat | Almaty | Almaty Central Stadium | 25,057 |
| Kaisar | Kyzylorda | Gany Muratbayev Stadium | 7,300 |
| Okzhetpes | Kokshetau | Okzhetpes Stadium | 10,000 |
| Ordabasy | Shymkent | K. Munaitpasov Stadium, Shymkent | 37,000 |
| Shakhter | Karagandy | Shakhtyor Stadium | 19,000 |
| Sunkar | Kaskelen | Tauelsizdik 10 zhyldygy | 2,500 |
| Taraz | Taraz | Taraz Central Stadium | 12,525 |
| Tobol | Kostanay | Kostanay Central Stadium | 8,323 |
| Zhetysu | Taldykorgan | Zhetysu Stadium | 4,000 |
Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Aktobe |  Vladimir Mukhanov |  Samat Smakov | adidas | — |
| Akzhayik |  Jozef Škrlík | |||
| Astana |  Miroslav Beránek | Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev | adidas | Qazaqstan Temir Zholy |
| Atyrau | Yuriy Konkov | Andrei Travin | adidas | |
| Irtysh | Talgat Baisufinov | David Loria | Nike | ENRC |
| Kairat |  José Pérez Serer | Ruslan Baltiev | adidas | KazRosGaz |
| Kaisar | Vladimir Nikitenko |  Borut Semler | adidas | — |
| Okzhetpes | Vladimir Cheburin | Umbro | — | |
| Ordabasy |  Viktor Pasulko | Kairat Ashirbekov | adidas | — |
| Shakhter | Viktor Kumykov | Andrey Finonchenko | Umbro | ArcelorMittal |
| Sunkar | Vladimir Gulyaimkhadarov | |||
| Taraz |  Ljupko Petrović | Nurtas Kurgulin | Nike | — |
| Tobol | Vyacheslav Grozny | Aleksandr Petukhov | Erreà | — |
| Zhetysu | Slobodan Krčmarević | Nike | — |
Managerial changes
Foreign players
The number of foreign players is restricted to eight per KPL team. A team can use only five foreign players on the field in each game.| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Player 6 | Player 7 | Player 8 |
| Aktobe |  Robert Primus | Lukáš Bajer |  Emil Kenzhesariev |  Arūnas Klimavičius |  Serghei Covalciuc |  Alexander Geynrikh | Marat Bikmaev | Timur Kapadze |
| Akzhayik | Borut Semler | Jakub Chleboun | Anatoliy Vlasichev | Pavel Černý |  Miloš Stojčev |  Ihar Zyankovich |  Haman Sadjo | Miloš Brezinský |
| Astana | Nenad Erić | Christian Ebala |  Foxi Kéthévoama |  Filip Ivanovski | Dimitrija Lazarevski | Aleksei Belkin | Damir Kojašević | |
| Atyrau | Đorđe Tutorić | Artyom Fomin |  Fausto |  Sandro | Vladimir Buač | Nivaldo |  Hannes Sigurðsson | Nikola Milanković |
| Irtysh |  Mamoutou Coulibaly |  Nemanja Džodžo | Ulugbek Bakayev | Štěpán Kučera |  Darko Maletić | Titi Essomba | Predrag Govedarica | |
| Kairat | Alberto Heredia |  Stuart Duff | Marko Đorđević |  Josip Knežević | Souto | Óscar | Alyaksandr Bychanok | |
| Kaisar | Nemanja Džodžo | Gradimir Crnogorac | Marjan Marković | Oleg Khromtsov |  Philip Edeipo | Bojan Mamić | Dmitri Parkhachev |  Karim Fachtali |
| Okzhetpes | Marko Milovanović |  Adrian Grigoruta | Ovidiu Mendizov |  Davit Chagelishvili |  Arslanmyrat Amanow | |||
| Ordabasy |  Andrew Mwesigwa | Aleksandar Trajković |  Gueye Mansour | Artem Kasyanov | Baba Collins | Vladimir Đilas |  Mohamed Arouri | |
| Shakhter Karagandy | Gediminas Vičius | Nikola Vasiljević |  Eduards Višņakovs | Andrey Paryvayew | Filip Arsenijević | Aldin Đidić |  Roger Cañas | |
| Sunkar | Stanislav Nohýnek | Rade Đokić | Goran Cvetković | Gheorghe Ovseanicov | Mantas Savėnas | Dragomir Vukobratović | ||
| Taraz | Ersin Mehmedović | Abdoulaye Diakate | Neven Vukman | Miroslav Lečić | Ognjen Krasić | Obiora Odita | Ivan Perić | |
| Tobol | Syarhey Kantsavy | Jhonnes | Igor Bugaiov | Nenad Šljivić | Mensur Kurtiši | Vitali Volkov | Nemanja Jovanović | Sergei Strukov |
| Zhetysu | Tanko Dyakov |  Siniša Dobrašinović | Danilo Belić | Miloš Mihajlov | Edin Junuzović | Zoran Kostić | Marko Đalović |
In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.