Monaco, Aug 29 (AP) Good luck to Manchester City, Tottenham, Juventus, and Monaco, as one of these teams will be tasked with traveling north of the Arctic Circle for a Champions League game in mid-January.
On Thursday, these four were drawn as away opponents for the Norwegian champion Bodo/Glimt. This club's 8,000-seat Aspmyra stadium is further north than any venue previously used in soccer's top club competition.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid's constellation of superstars is preparing to head farther east in the Champions League than ever before, with a game at Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan, close to the Chinese border.
This journey represents a flight of about 6,420 kilometers (4,000 miles) over three time zones from Madrid.
The draw on Thursday merely decided the matchups without setting specific dates for any of the games. Consequently, it's still unclear which teams will make these trips during the heart of winter.
In January, temperatures in Almaty, a city that previously bid to host the Winter Olympics, can plunge to minus-20°C (minus-4°F).
Visitors to Bodo/Glimt might find the relative warmth of minus-7°C (19°F) in January welcoming. This same scenario faced Maccabi Tel Aviv seven months ago during a Europa League game, where the Israeli team succumbed 3-1 on Bodo/Glimt's heated artificial turf.
New Challenges
Bodo/Glimt and Almaty are both newcomers to the Champions League, bringing added challenges after this season's schedule change that now includes games in January. The weather could still present hurdles in other months as well.
The 40,000 residents of coastal Bodo have experienced heavy snowfalls in April, such as when 10 centimeters (four inches) fell overnight during a Europa League quarterfinal against Lazio.
"So Lazio was saying, 'How are we going to play this game?'" Bodo/Glimt chairman Inge Henning Andersen commented on Thursday ahead of the Champions League draw. "Just shovel the snow away. The heat is on. We don't need to adjust anything playing in Bodo." If snow necessitates a game postponement, the teams should make another attempt the next afternoon, according to the Bodo official.
Tottenham, having already visited Bodo in last season's Europa League semifinal, did so in more forgiving May conditions.
Long-Haul Soccer
Regardless of the season, this Champions League edition will involve some significant long-distance flights.
Madrid, a record 15-time champion of Europe, will play alongside Club Brugge, Olympiakos, and Cypriot newcomer Pafos against Kairat in central Asia.
"It's no problem, it's football," said Kairat general director Askar Yessimov, suggesting opponents should arrive two days prior to the match.
Kairat's players and fans, in contrast, will endure four return journeys, unlike their opponents who will have only one. Last week, Yessimov noted, they spent 11 hours flying to face Celtic in Glasgow in the qualifying playoffs.
Kazakhstan's champion is drawn for away games against Inter Milan, Arsenal, Copenhagen, and Sporting Lisbon—the latter being the farthest at about 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles), potentially setting a record in European competition.
Kazakhstani teams have participated in European competitions since 2002 when the country joined UEFA, with Astana competing in the 2015-16 Champions League. Previously, this former Soviet Republic had been part of the Asian Football Confederation since 1994.
Azerbaijan is also represented in this Champions League, with Qarabag hosting games in Baku, around 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) from London for Chelsea and slightly shorter flights for Eintracht Frankfurt, Ajax, and Copenhagen.
Qarabag's players and fans face lengthy journeys westward to Liverpool, Lisbon—specifically to play Benfica—and to Athletic Bilbao and Napoli.
Western Europe Dominates
These travel demands underscore how the Champions League has become a predominantly Western European affair, dominated by the richest clubs from the wealthiest leagues.
With no teams from Ukraine, Croatia, or Serbia among the 36 clubs in this season's league phase, the only entry from a former Iron Curtain country is Slavia Prague. Last season, no eastern European team reached the 24-team knockout phase.
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