Kazakhstan prepared a very rough welcome for the footballers of Greek Olympiakos. The team, more used to the sun, heat and splashing of the Aegean Sea, arrived in the middle of snow drifts and freezing blizzards. On Tuesday evening local time, when Olympiakos is scheduled to play a Champions League match against Kajrat, temperatures are expected to drop to minus twenty degrees.
And what is special? Kajrat is based in the city of Almaty near the border with China. In his own stadium, he also played all four home matches in the preliminary rounds of the LM, as well as the subsequent duels of the basic phase against Real Madrid (0:5) and Paphos, Cyprus (0:0). However, they will play against Olympiakos in Astana, almost a thousand kilometers away as the crow flies.
“In December and January, the weather in Almaty is very bad and the conditions are not favorable for football, mainly because of the low temperatures. That’s why Kajrat reported Astana as a backup stadium.” the Kazakh media reported some time ago. But while it is now around zero in Almaty, which is certainly tolerable, the already mentioned forecast for the capital of Kazakhstan promises severe frost.
It’s hard to play Champions League-level football in minus 20 degrees. There are no clearly defined rules, but the custom is that if the thermometer shows minus fifteen or less, it is up to the referee and the agreement of both opponents. The players’ association FIFPRO, which more often than not rather, it deals with the consequences of great heatrecommends canceling the match when the temperature is below minus fifteen.
Crowds of people on a slide
So why did Kajrat footballers travel to Astana in the first place? The answer is simple – modern arena in the capital it has a sliding roof for more than four billion crowns (Viktoria Plzeň played there two years ago). The architects were thinking of the fact that the weather in Kazakhstan is often extremely unfriendly. Even so, the stay in the freezing city cannot be pleasant for Olympiakos.
By the way: last December, Astana footballers played against Chelsea in the Conference League and, paradoxically, they played in Almaty. Their luxury arena was being renovated. Although the London team won 3-1, its loyal fans complained a lot about the snowy seats, the temperature well below freezing and the lack of organization.
“There was snow everywhere in the stands, some ice, and as a result, hundreds of people lost their balance and literally fell between the seats.” described the local media. The head of the stadium in Almaty even lost his job because of it, and the Kazakh side apologized. Maybe even after this experience, Kajrat wants to play winter LM duels in Astana and not in his own stadium.
The weather always does strange things. While it’s minus twenty in Astana, Slavia will play Champions League at Tottenham on Tuesday in almost spring conditions. It should be around a pleasant thirteen degrees Celsius in London.
