A mild night in the Jetisu region of Kazakhstan produced one of the most remarkable stories in football from the last decade. The once capital city of Kazakhstan, Almaty, brought fever dreams to life with the performance of the football club, Kairat. A nation with a league ranked 34th in the UEFA Coefficient rankings has produced an incredible feat by reaching the Champions League, League Phase.

This is not the first time a Kazakhstan side has reached the promised land. FC Astana appeared in the Champions League in the 2015-16 season, although they did not progress past the group stage. Historically, Astana are the most successful team in Kazakhstan, winning the title on seven occasions.

Brunei Darussalam, ask your friends, colleagues and acquaintances and see how many of them know anything about this tiny nation. Many probably couldn’t even point it out to you on a map or would even recognise the flag of the nation, so how is this oil-rich country with strong religious ties so unknown to many?

Football, an art form played on grass, is a display of sporting excellence respected and enjoyed around the world, a sport which anyone can love. As a writer from the United Kingdom, I see football through an almost romantic lens.

I see the good areas of the game, we all have our favourite teams and players, we discuss with friends and have a laugh at each other’s expense when results go against our own or our friend’s team.

What if it wasn’t just laughs, if it resulted in more than that, unpleasant verbal interactions, physical altercations, violence and in some cases death?