Real Madrid madness descends on Almaty ahead of historic UCL clash

Real Madrid is set to face FC Kairat in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on September 30th for the second matchday of the 2025-26 Champions League. This match is historic for Kazakhstan, as it marks Real Madrid's first visit, involving a 10,000-mile round trip from Spain. Local fans are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to see star players like Mbappé, Vinicius Jr., Bellingham, Huijsen, and Arda Güler up close, generating significant excitement in the city near the Chinese border.

Ticket sales began on Tuesday, leading to overwhelming demand that crashed the servers. According to Kazinform, nearly 80,000 fans queued online for tickets, far exceeding the Almaty Central Stadium's capacity of 23,000 spectators. This surge caused the ticket portals to fail, prompting complaints from fans on social media, as the demand was triple the available seats.

The high demand is accompanied by steep ticket prices, ranging from 30,000 tenge (about $50) to 250,000 tenge (nearly $500) for premium seats. These prices are considered exorbitant in Kazakhstan, where the minimum monthly wage is approximately 100,000 tenge ($170), making attendance challenging for many local supporters.

FC Kairat earned their place in the Champions League by defeating teams like Olimpia Ljubljana, KUPS, Slovan Bratislava, and Celtic Glasgow through qualifying rounds. However, they started the group stage with a 4-1 loss to Sporting de Portugal in their first match.