Earthquake in Champions League

On the morning of August 27, Kairat Almaty made history when they participated in the Champions League classification stage for the first time, thanks to defeating Celtic 3-2 on penalties.

Kairat Almaty make history by participating in the Champions League qualifying round.

In the second leg of the final play-off round of the 2025/26 Champions League, at home at Ortalyq Stadium, Kairat Almaty played a resilient match when holding Celtic to a goalless draw throughout 120 minutes of play (the first leg ended in a 0-0 draw).

In the penalty shootout, 21-year-old goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov's outstanding performance helped the Kazakhstan side create one of the biggest shocks of the 2025/26 Champions League play-offs. He successfully saved three penalties from Celtic, helping the home team win 3-2.

This is the first time Kairat Almaty has entered the qualifying stage (formerly the group stage) of the Champions League. In history, before Kairat Almaty, only one Kazakhstani team had qualified for the group stage (classification) of the Champions League, that was FC Astana (2015/16 season).

According to The Times , this achievement also marks Kairat Almaty as the club with the closest geographical distance to Asia to ever participate in the group stage/classification of the Champions League, the most prestigious tournament in Europe.

Kairat Almaty, the representative from Almaty city – Kazakhstan’s second largest city – is only 650km away from China’s western border. This promises challenging but also very interesting away trips to many big European clubs in the 2025/26 season. This achievement is also an important milestone for Kazakhstani football, a country that has not made much of an impression on the European arena.

Source: https://znews.vn/dia-chan-o-champions-league-post1580274.html