Dinamo Tbilisi will hold the first leg match of UEFA Champions League first qualifying round in the capital of Kazakhstan. On July 12, the match with Astana will start at 18:00 Tbilisi time.
Football club Astana was established in 2009 by the merger of two clubs – Almaty Megasport and Alma-Ata. The original name of the club was Lokomotiv. The capital club was given its current name in 2011, and the club colors became yellow-blue, while before that the colors were blue and white. Astana plays its home matches at the 30,000-capacity artificial turf Astana Arena, which also hosts the Kazakhstan national team.
Although Astana was founded in 2009, the club is the most titled in Kazakhstan. Our future rival became the winner of the national championship for 7 times, Astana won the Kazakh for Cup three times, and the Super Cup for six times. It should be noted that during the 14 years of competition in the Kazakh Premier League, Astana was left without medals only for three times - in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
During these years, Astana competed successfully on European Cups. In 2014, the team reached the playoffs of the Europa League, where they lost to the Spanish Villarreal. The following year, the champion of Kazakhstan reached the group stage of the Champions League, defeating the Cypriot APOEL in the playoffs. In the group stage, Kazakhs competed with Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray. In the following 2016, Astana already played in the Europa League group, where Olympiakos, Young Boys and already familiar Apoel competed against the Kazakhs. In the 2017/18 season, the group stage of the Europa League again (Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Slavia Prague and the familiar Villarreal) and the second place in the group. Astana, who went to the 1/16 finals of the draw, finally lost to Sporting. In the same fall, Dynamo Kyiv, Rennes and Yablonets competed with the Kazakhs in the Europa League group. And in 2019, also the Europa League group and rivals - Manchester United, Partizan Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar. Last year, Astana entered the conference league from the second stage and lost a duel with Polish Rakuv.
43-year-old Grigori Babayan, a local football specialist, is the head coach of Astana since 2022. Grigori Babayan worked as an assistant and temporary head coach in the capital club in 2012-2019.
35-year-old Croatian attacker Marin Tomasov is considered to be Astana's all-time top scorer with 94 goals. He also holds the record for assists (77). The captain of the team, 30-year-old Abzal Beisebekov, played the most matches in the ranks of Astana. He wore the yellow-blue kit in 376 official matches.