Small club in the heart of Asia celebrates meeting Real Madrid in the European Champions League

Kairat players cheered when they knew they would meet Mbappe, Vinicius...

In their first participation in UEFA's number 1 competition, Kairat Almaty, an Asian team that plays in European competitions, was placed in the same bracket as Real Madrid, Inter, Arsenal, Club Brugge, Pafos, Olympiakos, Sporting Lisbon, FC Copenhagen. Of course, for a club with limited potential like Kairat Almaty, every match is extremely difficult for them, especially when Kairat Almaty will have to face the most successful team in the history of the tournament, Real Madrid.

However, instead of being worried, they were very excited for this match. When they knew they would be Real Madrid's opponents, the Kairat Almaty players even hugged each other to celebrate. Many people clapped their hands excitedly, others held their heads in amazement as if to show that they could not believe they had the honor of facing Real Madrid in their first season in the European Cup 1.

Perhaps meeting Real Madrid or Arsenal will be a great opportunity for Kairat Almaty to change their life. Ticket sales, television rights and the opportunity to play against the world's top superstars are rare opportunities for a team like Kairat Almaty. This is the club with the lowest squad value in the Champions League this season with only nearly 13 million euros (according to Transfermarkt). This figure is only equal to the annual salary of an average player in the squad of major European clubs.

Kairat Almaty is happy but their opponents are certainly not happy at all, because if they were to be scheduled to play away against this opponent, Real Madrid or Arsenal would have to travel more than 6,400 km to Kazakhstan to play. Their location is only 1,000 km from the Chinese border.

The detailed schedule for the 2025/26 European Cup qualifying round will be announced in the next few days. The first round of matches is expected to take place on September 17 and 18.