Rafael Urazbakhtin

Early career

Urazbakhtin began his career in 1996 with FC Zhetysu, then known as FC Kainar. That season, the club were relegated from the Kazakhstan Premier League after finishing in ninth place, with Urazbakhtin scoring once in twenty-two appearances. This relegation caused the forward to move to FC Ulytau. However, he only managed to make nine appearances for his new club before Ulytau folded and Urazbakhtin was forced to look for his third team in just two years. He joined FC Kairat, based in Almaty. The club finished third in the Kazakhstan Premier League in 1997, with Urazbakhtin scoring four times in seventeen games. He would spend a total of four years at FC Kairat and 1998 proved to be his most successful year at the club. He scored five goals in fifteen appearances as Kairat finished second in the Kazakhstan First Division. Despite this, Urazbakhtin gradually fell out of favour, only making one appearance in 2000, his final year in Almaty. However, he would return to the club in 2008.

2001–2011

He signed for FC Rostov ahead of the 2001 season and played thirteen games as they finished twelfth in the Russian Premier League. Urazbakhtin then moved back to Kazakhstan to play for Yelimay Semey, now known as FC Spartak Semey. However, he failed to make a single appearance for the side as they finished eighth in the Kazakhstan Premier League. This lack of first-team football understandably lead Urazbakhtin to move to FC Aktobe in 2003. Aktobe had only…

Urazbakhtin made his debut for Kazakhstan in a 2–0 loss to Iran in December 1998 in the 1998 Asian Games, while he was playing for FC Kairat. He would also play in Asian Games matches against Thailand and Lebanon, coming on as a second-half substitute in all three games. Rafael had to wait until April 2001 for his next international call-up, playing against Nepal in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier and scoring Kazakhstan's third goal in a 6–0 win. He also played in 2002 World Cup qualifiers against Macau and Iraq, before again scoring against Nepal in the return fixture on 21 April. The striker's final three caps for Kazakhstan came in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Ukraine in September, Albania in October, and Greece in November. Urazbakhtin played his last game for Kazakhstan in the 3–1 loss to Greece on 17 November 2004. On 3 October 1999, Urazbakhtin played in a 2000 Sydney Olympics second-round qualifier against Thailand, coming on as a substitute in a 0–0 draw. As the game was a qualifier for an Olympics tournament, Kazakhstan sent their under-23 team to compete, and as Urazbakhtin was only 20 years old at the time, he was called up to the under-23 side.

Urazbakhtin began his managerial tenure with FC Kairat after progressing through the club's coaching structure. He was appointed head coach in September 2024 and led the club to the league title in the 2025 season. During his tenure, Kairat recorded a victory over Celtic in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds, a result that secured qualification for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club's history.

International matches