Chelsea will be bidding to make it five wins from five in the Europa Conference League when they make the 7,000-mile round trip to Astana on Thursday. Enzo Maresca's side have picked up 12 points from a possible 12 in Europe's third-tier competition so far this season, racking up some impressive victories.
After beating Servette in the play-off round, Chelsea started their league phase campaign with a comfortable 4-2 win over Gent at Stamford Bridge. They followed that up by thrashing Panathinaikos 4-1 in Athens before producing a demolishing performance to sweep aside FC Noah of Armenia 8-0.
Last time out in the Conference League, Chelsea earned a 2-0 win against Heidenheim in Germany to maintain their place at the top of the league table. After the trip to Astana, the Blues host Irish side Shamrock Rovers next Thursday in their final game before the knockout phase in the new year.
Although there is no doubt Maresca and his staff have an in-depth knowledge of what their opponents on Thursday are going to offer, a number of Chelsea fans won't know much about Astana. With this in mind, football.london have taken a look at Astana and details about the fixture, which is due to kick-off early...
Who are Astana?
Founded in 2009, Astana are a football club that play in the Kazakhstan Premier League. They won their first major trophy a year later, lifting the Kazakhstan Cup. Winning that competition would usually ensure qualification for Europe. However, they were ineligible for a UEFA license as they had not existed for at least three years.
It meant Astana's first taste of European football came in July 2013 when they played in the first qualifying round of the Europa League against Botev Plovdiv. Although Astana lost 6-0 on aggregate, that would prove to be the start of a number of successful years in Europe, reaching heights no team from Kazakhstan had done before.
Astana playing against Manchester United in 2019
Astana playing against Manchester United in 2019 (Image: Getty Images)
Astana became Kazakhstan top-flight champions for the first time in November 2014 which secured them qualification for the Champions League. Amazingly, Astana became the first side from Kazakhstan to get to the group stage of Europe's elite club competition by beating APOEL in a two-legged play-off round.
They were drawn in a group alongside Atletico Madrid, Benfica and Galatasaray where they managed to obtain four points in six games after four draws and two losses. In November 2015, Astana secured their second straight Kazakhstan Premier League title and securing their place in next season's Champions League.
Astana continued to dominate football in Kazakhstan, winning six successive Premier League titles up to the 2020 campaign where they finished second. In that period, Astana were knocked out of the Champions League twice to Celtic and reached the knockout stage of the Europa League for the first time in the 2017/18 season.
During the 2020 season, Astana endured a host of changes at the top of the club which saw Norwich-born Paul Ashworth join the club in an executive capacity. After a difficult couple of seasons, Astana seemed to get back on the winning trail with a league title in 2022 but fell short once again a year later.
Following the curtailment of the 2024 Kazakhstan Premier League, Astana finished second, one point behind of winners Kairat, despite losing just six of their 26 top-flight fixtures. As for their current Conference League campaign, Astana have won one, drew one and lost two of their league phase fixtures.
FC Astana in Conference League action against New Saints in October
FC Astana in Conference League action against New Saints in October (Image: Getty Images)
Astana kickstarted with a 1-0 win over Backa Topola in October but followed that up with back-to-back defeats to The New Saints and Pafos. In their last Conference League outing Astana were held to a 1-1 draw with Vitoria SC - a result that leaves them in 23rd and just inside the knockout phase play-offs.
There isn't many household names as part of their squad. Astana boast a couple of foreign players but the majority are Kazakhstan-based, including experienced international Abzal Beysebekov.
Why does the game kick-off early?
Chelsea have grown accustomed to the Conference League this season but all of their all of their matches in qualifying and during the league phase have kicked off at either 5:45pm or 8pm GMT.
However, there are sometimes exceptions due to scheduling conflicts and travel. One of those is on Thursday with Chelsea's trip to Astana set to kick-off at 3:30pm GMT.
Astana are currently playing their European home matches in the city of Almaty, approximately 1,200km away from the capital, because of renovations in their regular home stadium. Due to this, Chelsea will make the eight-hour flight directly to Almaty, avoiding travelling through the likes of Russia and Ukraine.
But the reason the game is being played at 3:30pm is due to the time zone in Kazakhstan being five hours ahead of the United Kingdom, meaning the match will be played at 20:30 local time. The same slot was used for Portuguese side Vitoria during their recent trip to Kazakhstan last month.
Conditions will be tough for Chelsea, too. The temperate is looking like it will range between -6 to -11 during Thursday's game, making the current climate in England seem hot.
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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