Overview
- Qairat Almaty hosted Olympiakos in Astana rather than Almaty because of harsh winter conditions and the need for a closed stadium.
- The 16:30 CET start marked the competition’s earliest kickoff, calculated as 20:30 local time in Kazakhstan to meet UEFA timing rules.
- The shift disrupted the usual schedule pattern, leaving Bayern vs Sporting as the only match in the 18:45 CET slot before the 21:00 fixtures.
- A 21:00 CET start would have been 01:00 locally and 18:45 CET would have been 22:45, which is not permitted under UEFA statutes.
- Broadcasters split coverage with most matches on DAZN, Barcelona vs Eintracht Frankfurt on Amazon Prime, and all women’s fixtures on Disney+, and Qairat’s next home game vs Club Brugge is also set for 16:30 CET.