"Tehran, Kabul, Lahore and Mumbai. At this moment, FourFourTwo is further east than all four of them, as we wander around the perimeter of Kairat Almaty's Central Stadium, ahead of the club's Champions League qualifying tie against Olimpija Ljubljana. We are in Kazakhstan's largest city, just 200 miles from the Chinese border, with the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains looming large over us, the beginning of highlands that sweep all the way south and across to the mighty Himalayas."
"Kazakhstan weren't part of UEFA until 2002 like fellow Central Asian nations Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, they joined the Asian Football Confederation following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, before switching to face more prestigious opposition. European action near China's border (Image credit: Unknown) A small part of north-west Kazakhstan is indeed in Europe, but it's a 33-hour road trip from where we are, in the south-east of the country."
Kairat Almaty's Central Stadium in Almaty, just 200 miles from the Chinese border beneath the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains, hosted a Champions League qualifying tie and represents the easternmost UEFA fixture this season. Only two other eastern clubs — Irtysh Pavlodar and Sibir Novosibirsk — have previously hosted major European matches. Kazakhstan joined UEFA in 2002 after initially entering the Asian Football Confederation following the Soviet Union's 1991 dissolution. A small part of north-west Kazakhstan lies in Europe, but Almaty is a 33-hour road trip from that area. Kazakhstan is Central Asia's largest country and the world's ninth largest.
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