There’s Something Really Special About These Minnows – Let’s Welcome the Champions League Newcomers of 25/26

Every year, before the start of a new UEFA Champions League campaign, we, fans, gush over the thought of big teams playing dozens of matches against each other over the course of the next few months, and then try and knock each other out in hopes of attaining continental glory. But let’s be real and ask ourselves for a second. Would this gargantuan competition be the same without the minnows?

No disrespect to these minnows, but in all reality, that’s what you are. Dani Ceballos’ market value is likely (don’t just hold us for our word) bigger than all of . Perhaps the players can keep that in mind when they host Real Madrid in Kazakhstan next month? Give us an upset, please?

Why we talk about upsets could interesting to many. It adds to the drama and the excitement of the Champions League. Without them, this incredible trophy could very well be renamed (sorry Mr. Ceferin) to the “Super League” trophy.

We’ve seen some incredible debutants in the Champions League since the (relatively but now obsolete) new format came into place in 1992. Villarreal in 05-06 and Malaga in 12-13 come to mind. We’re sure there are more.

But that “trip down memory lane”, or whatever cliché suits you, is something we want to cover in another article. Here, we want to take a look, and introduce you to the newcomers of the 25-26 campaign.

There are three, and each as unlikely as the next. Well, maybe not Union Saint-Gilloise?

Union Saint-Gilloise

This rather historic Belgian club isn’t from a small town of 4,000 people. It’s based out of the capital of the country, Brussels, and yes, even we were low-key surprised about that. (Let us know, was it just us?)

Well, the name seemed irrelevant to us and most football fans because that’s where the club found itself struggling in, a pit of irrelevancy. We learned that they are 11-time champions of Belgium, so where have they been?

As it turns out, their success came in the early 20th century. Safe to say, long before the idea of Eleventh Minute came into existence. (Sorry, not sorry).

Union Saint-Gilloise spent a whopping 48 years outside the top division of Belgium, only making a return in 2021, which is when their fanbase started hoping for something big, and fair enough, they won the title in 2025, which helped them earn a spot in the league phase of the Champions League, where they will only be joined by Club Brugge, a familiar European name from the country of Belgium.

Oh, just a side note, those who cared enough to watch the Europa League knockout round would remember how the side lost narrowly to Ajax, just 3-2. A very well-deserved welcome to the big leagues. Welcome Saint-Gilloise. Hoping that your performances are as royal as your name seems.

Teams Union Saint-Gilloise will face this season:

16th September- Paris Saint Germain (Away)

1st October- Newcastle United (Home)

21st October- Inter Milan (Home)

4th November- Atletico Madrid (Away)

25th November- Galatasaray (Away)

9th December- Marseille (Home)

21st January- Bayern Munich (Away)

28th January- Atalanta (Home)

FC Pafos

Did you hear about this team from Cyprus? No? Perhaps because the club itself was founded in 2014, when AEP Paphos and AEK Kouklia merged together. It’s not like over this decade they glittered the Mediterranean island with trophies and were laden with success, having only won their first trophy in the form of the national cup in 2025.

It earned them a spot in the Conference League playoffs last season, but alas, they failed to make it to the league stage. Then boom, a year later, they became national champions, earning a pathway to the league phase through a grueling qualification round.

Yes, teams like Pafos don’t have it easy, sadly because of where their national league is ranked according to UEFA (21st). So, they had to beat Israeli side Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dynamo Kyiv, and Red Star Belgrade to earn a spot in the main draw of the biggest club competition in the world. (We’re still not taking the FIFA Club World Cup into account, talk about p*ssing two Presidents off in one article).

Sometimes, teams you don’t even know exist pull off miracles. For an example, look no further than 2021, when Sheriff Tiraspol, a club from Tiraspol, the capital of a country that literally doesn’t exist, Transnistria, defeated Real Madrid, and that too at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Sadly for those who wanted to see the European kings fall down to peasants again, Pafos don’t play Los Blancos in the 25-26 league phase.

Teams FC Pafos will face this season:

17th September- Olympiacos (Away)

30th September- Bayern Munich (Home)

21st October- Kairat Almaty (Away)

5th November- Villareal (Home)

26th November- Monaco (Home)

10th December- Juventus (Away)

21st January- Chelsea (Home)

28th January- Slavia Praha (Away)

Kairat Almaty

Yes, finally we arrive at the team that’s actually based out of Asia, and actually has the chance to pull off the biggest upset of the competition. Real Madrid fly to Almaty, which will take about 11 hours from Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas, just a day (or two, if Xabi Alonso doesn’t want his players acclimatized to the harsh Kazakh weather) later. It has set the stage for arguably the biggest night in Kazakh football, ever.

But let’s focus on Kairat domestically for some time. They’re one of, if not the, biggest in Kazakhstan and have won the national league four times, most recently in 2024, which was what earned them this ticket to the league phase. As for their European history, there’s not much of it, as Kazakhstan only joined UEFA in 2002 (although they can’t join Europe as a continent, politics aside).

Kairat did take part in UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds in the past, of course, and also featured in the Europa and Conference League. Their best ever season? 2021/22, when they reached the Conference League group phase.

Kairat, perhaps, were the biggest surprise of the playoff rounds too, and arguably, they smashed it and defied expectations. In the early rounds, they got the better of Olimpija Ljubljana, KuPS, and Slovan Bratislava. Easy work, right? Then, they got the better of Celtic, one of the perennial league contenders of Scotland and an almost regular in Champions League competitions over the years.

It’s a big year for Almaty and Kazakh football, and even the Real Madrid fixture aside, they have something incredibly special they can aim for this year. They’re perhaps the team with the best home advantage this year, just for the sheer amount of distance opponents will have to cover just to get there.

Teams Kairat Almaty will face this season:

18th September- Sporting Club de Portugal (Away)

30th September- Real Madrid (Home)

21st October- FC Pafos (Home)

5th November- Inter Milan (Away)

26th November- Copenhagen (Away)

9th December- Olympiacos (Home)

20th January- Club Brugge (Home)

28th January- Arsenal (Away)

Share:

Your Next Read

Join The Community

Scroll to Top