Kazakhstan make their long-awaited debut in this year's World League when, at No.42, they will be the third lowest-ranked side in the competition ahead of Greece and Montenegro. They have a good chance to start well with home advantage in week one's fixtures as they host games in Taraz before heading to Cairo to complete their Pool H matches against Egypt, Venezuela and Spain. Coached by Andrey Patrakov, the team did not qualify for the Poland 2014 World Championship and last competed in the event in 2006 when they finished 21st, two places lower than their only other appearance at Argentina 2002. At the 2014 Asian Games they won three of their seven matches, beating Hong Kong China, Maldives and Saudi Arabia. Defeat to Chinese Taipei gave them an overall rank of 10th.
Since Kazakhstan's independence in 1992 they have competed at eight Asian Championships. Their best result was a silver medal in 1993 and a year later they took fourth at the Asian Games. More recently in 2013 they finished 10th at the Asian Championships after losing to Chinese Taipei in a classification match and last year they took third in the AVC Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Patrakov is also the coach of domestic side Almaty VC and in 1979 he was awarded the title of ‘Master of Sports of the USSR'.