Reaching the Champions League league phase is a lucrative endeavor that clubs across Europe from all financial profiles and backgrounds covet.
For smaller clubs around Europe, even one appearance at this level can change a club's future and provide a route up the continental ladder.
Thus, clubs making their debut in the competition proper will cherish the experience knowing that, despite the competitive odds stacked against them, a glorious payday is due to their club regardless, and every result will be savoured in the financial books.
The Sporting News brings you the details one of those clubs making their debut at this level in the 2025/26 season, after FC Kairat made a memorable run all the way from the first qualifying round to the league phase.
MORE: UEFA Champions League schedule, fixtures, and results for 2025/26 competition
Where are Kairat from?
FC Kairat are from Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan.
With their debut in the Champions League proper, FC Kairat is now the easternmost participant in the UCL league phase ever. Almaty, which is near Kazakhstan's southeastern border with Kyrgyzstan, is located further east than the westernmost border of China.
Almaty used to be the capital of Kazakhstan from the country's birth in 1991 until 1997, when it was moved to Astana.
How did Kairat qualify for the Champions League?
FC Kairat qualified for the 2025/26 Champions League by winning the 2024 Kazakhstan Premier League title.
Because Kazakhstan follows a calendar-based football schedule rather than an August-to-May calendar like many of the top European leagues, the 2024 title qualified Kairat for the 2025/26 UEFA tournament. The 2025 title-winners, confirmed when the season concludes in late October, will earn a berth in the 2026/27 tournament.
Thanks to Kazakhstan's lower country coefficient, their league champion FC Kairat entered the 2025/26 tournament in the first qualifying round, following the Champions Path, which is designated only for league champions, as opposed to the League Path which is designated for non-champion qualifiers.
UEFA determines its country coefficient by how clubs from that country perform each year in European competition, using a rolling five-year algorithm.
FC Kairat Almaty Champions League schedule
| Round | Date | Match | Location |
| First qualifying: Leg 1 | Jul. 8, 2025 | Olimpija Ljubljana 1-1 Kairat | Ljubljana, Slovenia |
| First qualifying: Leg 2 | Jul. 15, 2025 | Kairat 2-0 Olimpia Ljubljana | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Second qualifying: Leg 1 | Jul. 22, 2025 | KuPS 2-0 Kairat | Kuopio, Finland |
| Second qualifying: Leg 2 | Jul. 29, 2025 | Kairat 3-0 KuPS | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Third qualifying: Leg 1 | Aug. 6, 2025 | Kairat 1-0 Slovan Bratislava | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| Third qualifying: Leg 2 | Aug. 12, 2025 | Slovan Bratislava 1-0 Kairat Kairat adv. 4-3 on pens | Bratislava, Slovakia |
| League phase: Matchday 1 | Sep. 18, 2025 | Sporting CP 4-1 Kairat | Lisbon, Portugal |
| League phase: Matchday 2 | Sep. 30, 2025 | Kairat vs. Real Madrid | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| League phase: Matchday 3 | Oct. 21, 2025 | Kairat vs. Pafos | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| League phase: Matchday 4 | Nov. 5, 2025 | Inter Milan vs. Kairat | Milan, Italy |
| League phase: Matchday 5 | Nov. 26, 2025 | FC Copenhagen vs. Kairat | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| League phase: Matchday 6 | Dec. 9, 2025 | Kairat vs. Olympiacos | Almaty, Kazakhstan |
| League phase: Matchday 7 | Jan. 20, 2026 | Kairat vs. Club Brugge | Almaty Kazakhstan |
| League phase: Matchday 8 | Jan. 28, 2026 | Arsenal vs. Kairat | London, England |
Are Kairat a professional team?
Yes, FC Kairat is a fully professional club in the top division of Kazakhstani football.
It is a requirement by proxy that all Champions League participants are fully professional, as the only way to qualify for the competition is to finish at a certain level in a European country's top-tier of competitive football.
The club was founded in 1954 as Lokomotiv Alma-Ata by Nikolai Starostin, who is considered one of the earliest developers of Russian football and earlier was credited with founding Spartak Moscow.
Kairat joined the Soviet Union top flight in 1960 as part of the league's expansion to 22 teams to include clubs from various territories, and were a founding member of the Kazakhstan Premier League upon the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991.
They won the Kazakhstan league's first title in 1992. The 2024 triumph was their fourth.