Whenever the UEFA Champions League (UCL) anthem plays, millions of people around the world perk up and get excited at the prospect of witnessing some of the best club soccer on the planet.
While the song based on Handel’s “Zadok the Priest” has played through television screens in Kazakhstan for years, it had never echoed around Kairat Almaty’s Central Stadium until this summer.
“For me, it is a childhood dream,” said Kairat midfielder Adilet Sadybekov during a press conference before the team’s Champions League play-off against Scottish club Celtic in August. “Tomorrow, all of Kazakhstan will hear the anthem in Almaty, and for everyone, I think, it is also a small dream come true.”
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