Kairat Almaty, a club with a history beginning in 1954, make their home at the Almaty Central Stadium in the distant confines of Kazakhstan. This is a factual assertion, not the stuff of fairytale.
Trade whispers around the club value the collective might of Kairat's squad at a not negligible sum of around £11m. This estimable figure floats over from Transfermarkt, a veritable non-pareil in sifting through the financial hay of football's market values.
The club musters a lean squad of merely 7 players, seasoned to an average twang of 28 years. Fewer boots, one might argue, to fumble on the ball.
This campaign has seen Kairat maintain the regular heartbeat of competition, their efforts pulsing through two distinct theatres. The premier domestic league has been so far graced by their firm imprint in first place, a position scarcely achieved by happenstance. Elsewhere, the drums of Champions League qualification still echo in the Play-Off rounds.
