'You never know what to expect here': Lukas Budinsky on football in Kazakhstan

Thanks to the Czech footballer, the smaller club from the capital eventually retained its first league affiliation and will be able to complete a successful autumn by winning the national cup at the end of November. Budinsky talked about the level of the Kazakh league and about living in the middle of the steppe in an interview with Flashscore. 

In Astana, the temperature has been well below freezing in recent weeks, but Budinsky has quickly gotten used to winter's early onset. During a video interview, he ran around his apartment shirtless and readily told stories of his engagement in the sprawling Central Asian republic.

"You never know what to expect here," he pointed out at the outset. And the narrative only confirms his words.

Have you been burned many times?

"I don't know if I got burned, but I was a little surprised by the development a few times. Nobody told me before I left that we would play our home games three hours away from Astana and wouldn't have our own stadium or booth, but that's just how it works here. Every competition has something."

How can a club function that can't even provide basic facilities for its players? Even the guys in the Czech Republic have their own booth. 

"Astana Arena, where Zhenis normally play home games, is being renovated, so it's a bit specific. A bus takes us to training and after training it takes us home again."

Did they forget to tell you during the meeting that the club currently operates in such conditions?

"The whole thing happened pretty quickly in the summer. They contacted my manager from Kazakhstan with the offer and gave me two days to think about it. I quickly tried to find out about the club and the city, but I didn't have much time."

What finally convinced you?

"The fact that Astana is the capital played a big role. It's largely new and modern, so that made my decision a bit easier. If it had been a different city, I would have thought about the transfer a lot more."

What did they say about your decision back home?

"I dealt with it with my partner, who I needed to get the go-ahead from. She wasn't completely thrilled about it, but I wanted to give it a try and there wasn't much time for any lengthy thinking. So in the end, she agreed."

Can you handle a long-distance relationship?

"To be honest, it's not easy, but it's a test. It's something new and we'll see what the future holds."

Have you had a chance to visit her in the Czech Republic, or have you not seen each other for four months?

"Connecting to the Czech Republic is quite difficult from here. I haven't been able to get home in all this time because it takes two days to get there. Even during the breaks, when we had some time off, it wouldn't have been worth it. In October we met at least halfway and were in Istanbul for a few days."

Feeling the chill 

You have a lot of teammates from Europe in Zhenis, did that help you acclimatise?

"I have to say a lot. There's a Pole, a Slovenian, a Croat, and a Portuguese playing here, so we have a pretty diverse changing room. I can't imagine coming to a team where there are only Kazakhs, because most of them don't speak much English. Three or four of our team can speak the language."

Can you cement a team when you have practically no common background? 

"We always sat down during away games at hotels. In Astana, again, we often went for lunch after training. There are a lot of restaurants here, so we went around them one by one. But in most of them, they make small portions. To eat, you have to buy maybe two meals, or at least a meal and a soup. Their way of eating is a bit different than Czech cuisine."

Have you found a favourite place?

"We used to like to go out for steak, but it hasn't been the same in the last few weeks. It's like minus 15 outside, and then you don't even want to go out. So I spend a lot of time at home. It's been snowing here for a week now and the Kazakhs don't care. If I wanted to go somewhere on foot, I would slide on the icy pavements like on skates."

And you play football in such weather?

"We have all our training sessions indoors. If we didn't have it, I don't think it would be possible. Astana is in the middle of the steppe on a completely flat plain, so it's very windy. Even if it weren't so cold, it would be impossible to train because of the wind. We haven't had a single training session outside since I arrived."

What about the games?

"Astana Arena, where Zhenis normally plays, is covered. But it's currently being repaired and that's why we've been playing all our home games in Karaganda, which is 200 kilometres away."

I guess you didn't quite have a home environment there, did you?

"No, but the last home game was significantly worse. Because of some problems with the pitch we had to play in Pavlodar, which is about seven hours by bus from Astana."

It isn't even that far from Karvina to Plzen!

"Well, here it was a home game... Fortunately, we flew there, so it went by, but it was crazy on the way back. And what was happening at the stadium completely put me down. We got there two hours before the game and there were several inches of snow on the pitch. In the Czech Republic, the whole club would have been flying all over the pitch, but here nobody was doing anything. Twenty minutes later someone arrived with a tractor and then another gentleman joined in. But that was all."

And did the two of them make it?

"It was about half an hour late to start playing on a completely inadequate pitch, but it was the last round so it probably needed to be played. Plus we didn't have any hi-visibility balls, so it was a matter of what to play with. Well, people here took their own approach. We got red sprays and we spray painted the classic white balls red."

Listening to these stories, I wonder about the level of sportsmanship in Kazakhstan. Wasn't it a step down in terms of football?

"It's not an easy competition. Almost all the games are played on artificial pitches and some of them are in terrible condition. In Atyrau, we played on something that had nothing to do with artificial turf. It was more like a parking lot, just crazy. Considering the surface, the games are not very nice. They don't sprinkle, so it's slow and it's very much about one goal. Most of the games ended 1-0 or 0-0. When you play on grass, it's different. The game is a lot faster and I would say it's fun to watch. Unfortunately, I haven't tried many grass pitches here."

Could the level be compared to, say, the Czech league?

"It's difficult, the football is completely different. Some teams don't pay attention to any tactics at all, they just run forward, and they don't care what they have behind them. When we were preparing for them on video, I was laughing and thinking maybe they don't even train. But then there are some great individuals here. These are players who earn 20,000 euros and in the Czech Republic maybe Sparta or Slavia would buy them, but they are looking for completely different players."

In what way?

"When there are players who are skilful up front, they usually don't want to run backwards. We played against Ordobasy Shymkent, where a fantastic Kazakh played. He couldn't get the ball away from him, but when he accidentally lost the ball, he was walking straight away."

If a player like that can earn €20,000 a month in Kazakhstan, I assume you've also come into better money than you did in Karvina?

"Honestly, I didn't come here for the money. It was mainly because Karvina told me just before the start of the season that they wouldn't renew my contract and I wanted to try somewhere abroad. I didn't want to prepare on my own for a long time and Zhenis was the first to call. As for the salary, it's better here, but again there are no bonuses, so it comes out to about shul zero. The advantage is that I have a classic employment contract here, so unlike in the Czech Republic I don't have to deal with anything."

You still have the cup final to go and then your contract ends. Do you have any plans for next year?

"I'm not thinking about it at all yet. At the end of November, we play the cup final, then I'll fly home and I'd like to have a rest and then I'll start to figure it out."

Do you at least have an idea if you want to continue abroad?

"If the chance comes, I would still like to stay out. On the other hand, it's not easy at all. There always seem to be a lot of offers, but in the end, it turns out that the serious ones can be counted on one hand."

Don't you regret in retrospect that you didn't agree on a deal in Karvina considering how the team is doing under Martin Hysky?

"They didn't want me, so I left. I don't want to think about it that way, that's football. If I had stayed, it could have been completely different and we could have been in trouble. Plus, it brought me something new. But I'm still watching the boys and I'm rooting for them. I believe they can be around eighth place all year."

Ironically, your transfer to Kazakhstan wasn't the most exotic one that Karvina had to deal with in the summer. Goalkeeper Jiri Ciupa was the first Czech to play football in South Africa. It's almost as if Karvina is the gateway to football adventures.

"Maybe it is. It's a very interesting move for Jirika, he never transferred away from Karvina and suddenly he's off to Africa. From a personal point of view, I think it's a much bigger leap than living in Kazakhstan. Well, at least he's warm there. Plus, we can share our football business."

Check out the Kazakhstan's Premier League table now.