The goalkeeper of “Ulytau” from Zhezkazgan Dmytro Nepohodov shared what encouraged him to change his Ukrainian citizenship to Kazakhstani.
Dmytro Nepohodov— I have had Kazakhstani citizenship since 2018, and before that, as a Ukrainian legionnaire, I played for only one year. I changed my citizenship because I was offered to play for the national team. And since my parents were born in Kazakhstan, where I also have many relatives, it was easier to obtain it.
There were many interesting and positive moments in the Kazakhstan national team. I remember my debut in Georgia against the local national team, as well as a home victory against the Scots 3:0. It was also very interesting to compete against the Belgian national team. Even though we lost both matches to them, playing against Lukaku, Kompany, De Bruyne, Hazard, Courtois, and all the others is not something that happens every day. Such matches are remembered for a long time,” the goalkeeper said.
