The team played their first match against another former-Soviet debutant, Turkmenistan, on 1 June 1992, as part of a Central Asian tournament.

After beating Libya in a friendly in North Korea on 3 July, Kazakhstan played the remainder of its Central Asian fixtures and avoided defeat in all of them.

In the first round of Asian qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Kazakhstan were placed in Group 6 alongside Iraq, Nepal and Macau.

Kazakhstan started off well in Baghdad by beating Nepal 6–0 with two goals by Oleg Litvinenko on 12 April, and Macau 3–0 two days later.

In Almaty Central Stadium, Kazakhstan beat Nepal 3–0 with two goals by Maksim Igorevich Shevchenko on 21 April.

They had to wait until the 2002 FIFA World Cup finished on 30 June before making the switch, as they had entered the tournament as an AFC member.

Since joining UEFA, Kazakhstan has been a relative minnow within the continent, with most of their qualifications being unsuccessful and often finish near dead last or bottom.

They lost the next three matches before getting their first official win as UEFA members in a 2–1 home triumph against Serbia with goals from Kairat Ashirbekov and Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev.

[7] The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification had Kazakhstan in the 5th of 6 drawing pots, drawn in Group 6 with Croatia, England, Ukraine, Belarus and Andorra.

[11][circular reference] Following recent unimpressive qualifying campaigns, Kazakhstan was once again in the last drawing pot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification.

The goal scored by Islambek Kuat got the Kazakhs the 5th place, tied in points with the Latvians, but with a better head-to-head record.

[12] Once again in the last drawing pot, Kazakhstan had an unimpressive 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, failing to win a single match.

Kazakhstan defeated Andorra by 4–0 on 16 October, but the Georgia win against Latvia got the Georgians promoted to League C with two matches still to be played.

However, Kazakhstan won ten points in the qualification, its best performance to date in Euro qualifying, including a shock 3–0 home win over Scotland,[15] and a 1–1 away draw over Cyprus, though they still finished fifth at the end.

Kazakhstan won a late victory away at Northern Ireland on 19 June 2023, with Abat Aimbetov scoring in the 88th minute from a breakaway goal.

[18] Kazakhstan remained in contention for an automatic qualification berth throughout the campaign, only losing out on the final round due to a 2–1 away defeat to Slovenia.

Win Draw Loss Fixture Nurbol Zhumaskaliyev The following 37 players were called up for Kazakhstan's UEFA Nations League matches against  Austria and  Norway on 14 & 17 November 2024.