Eliminate the Celtics, the "most Asian" Champions League team was born

Written by/Hanbing As Celtics' Japanese player Maeda Daran missed a penalty kick, Almaty Kairat, who played at home, eliminated the Soviet Super League giants Celtics 3-2. This Kazakh team not only entered the Champions League for the first time in team history, but also became the team with the easternmost geographical location in the history of the Champions League, and may break the record for the longest distance in the Champions League history. The new season of the Champions League is flying from Lisbon, the westernmost end to Almaty, the easternmost end, the flight distance is more than 6,900 kilometers, which is equivalent to the voyage between Beijing and Istanbul, and is the farthest away distance of the away team in the history of the Champions League. Previously, the Courage Club of Almaty, which was named "the most distant team" will be recorded in the history of the Champions League.

10 years ago in April 2015, Almaty Courage won the 5-a-side European Cup championship in Lisbon, the westernmost western end of the continent, setting a record of the longest voyage in European football history of 6,911 kilometers. The Celtic, a giant Soviet Super League who was eliminated by Almaty this time, set a record for the farthest voyage of European teams in the Intercontinental Cup (11,304 kilometers) and eventually lost to the Argentina Athletics. In the 2016/17 and 2017/18 Champions League third round qualifiers, the Celtics eliminated Kazakhstan's FC Astana twice, and both went through a long voyage of nearly 5,500 kilometers and did not win away games. Now that things are going nowhere, luck finally stands on the side of Kazakhstan's team this time.

Before Almaty Courage, the easternmost team of the Champions League also came from Kazakhstan (FC Astana). 10 years ago in 2015, FC Astana passed three consecutive qualifiers and entered the Champions League. Benfica, the westernmost end of the 2015/16 Champions League, is in the same group as FC Astana, the easternmost end. The two teams in the group stage have a flight distance of 6173 kilometers between Lisbon and Astana, which is more than the distance between Beijing and Moscow (5900 kilometers). The distance from Beijing to Almaty is only about 3,270 kilometers.

Almaty is only 330 kilometers away from the Horgos Port in Xinjiang, China, and Almaty is only 413 kilometers away from Yining, Xinjiang. It takes only 55 minutes to fly a direct flight and less than 6 hours to drive. In Almaty's 4 Champions League home games, Chinese fans can start from Yining and watch the Champions League game on the spot with the closest travel distance in history.

Almaty is only 660 kilometers away from Tashkent, where teams often participate in the AFC Champions League, and belongs to Central Asia in terms of geographical and cultural velocity. In fact, Kazakhstan did belong to the AFC before 2002 and participated in the top 10 matches in 1998. Almaty's courage to participate in the intercontinental event for the first time was the 1997/98 Asian Winners Cup. This is the third time Almaty has played in the Champions League qualifiers since the 2005/06 season. This time, it has passed four consecutive levels and won consecutive penalty shootouts in the last two games. Fate gave them the chance to appear in the Champions League.

The first European Cup in the 2021/22 season, Almaty Courage entered the European Championship for the first time in history, and has become the easternmost team in the history of the European Championship. The Gibraltar Lincoln Red Devils, the westernmost end of the European Cup League, had a voyage between the courage of Almaty and Almaty. The easternmost team in European history is Novosibirsk (2010/11 Europa League qualifiers), with a voyage of more than 9,000 kilometers from Santa Clara, the westernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, this is just the farthest distance between European teams in theory, and the two teams have never actually fought in European wars.

The theoretically farthest voyage distance of the European War is far more than that. If the Vladivostok solar team, the easternmost end of the Russian Professional League, enters the European battle, and the French overseas territorial team in the Caribbean has obtained the European battle qualification by obtaining the French Cup, the record for the longest distance in the European battle will be greatly refreshed. French Guiana champion Cayenne, located in South America, plays Vladivostok Solar, with a flight distance of more than 30,000 kilometers eastward. For the Cayenne, the distance to the west is much shorter and will also exceed 16,000 kilometers. Of course, the possibility of such a European war is almost zero.

In addition to the new easternmost team of the Champions League, Almaty Courage, this morning the Champions League play-off also gave birth to the northernmost team in the history of the Champions League. Norwegian upstart Bode shines out the Graz Storm in Austria. After four Champions League qualifiers, the team entered the Champions League for the first time. Bode shines within the Arctic Circle and is the northernmost team in the history of the Champions League. In addition, Cyprus dark horse Paphos unexpectedly eliminated the Eastern European powerhouse Belgrade Red Star, becoming the fourth new team to participate in the first time in the Champions League. Unfortunately, the team's city is located at a latitude slightly northerly than Tel Aviv, the southernmost end of the Champions League, and failed to become the new southernmost end of the Champions League.

The Champions League play-off this morning has given birth to a new eastern and northern team in the new season's Champions League, and the "map" of the Champions League main match has also expanded unprecedentedly.