Kazakhstan's Kairat suffered an away defeat to Cyprus's Omonia in the first leg of the second qualifying round of the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League, reports infohub.kz.
The match at the GSP Stadium in Nicosia ended with a narrow 1-0 win for the hosts. The only goal came from Cypriot midfielder Panayiotis Andreou in the 13th minute. Kairat played with a man advantage for most of the match after Hungarian defender Loic Nego of Omonia received a straight red card in the 33rd minute.
The return leg is scheduled for July 29 at the Central Stadium in Almaty. The winner of the two-legged tie advances to the third qualifying round of the Champions League, where they will face Bulgaria's Levski or Romania's Universitatea. The loser drops to the equivalent stage of the Europa League and will play Sweden's Mjällby or Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps.
Last season, Kairat reached the Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. This campaign, the Almaty side started from the first qualifying round, recording two wins over Montenegro's Sutjeska with an aggregate score of 4-1.