After 21 years of joining UEFA, Kazakhstan, ranked 98th in the world, has never been so close to intercontinental competitions.

Recently, the group stage of the 2024 European Championship qualifiers in Germany has come to a close, with a total of 21 teams securing the main tournament qualification. The final three spots will be determined by the 12 teams that are in the playoffs.

In the group stage of the European qualifiers, Kazakhstan, which is only 4 points away from the qualifying zone, is one twelfth of the waiting fate. It belongs to the playoff groups of Greece, Georgia, and Luxembourg.

To be more realistic, regardless of whether the opponent in the final of this group is Georgia or Luxembourg, just going to Athens four months later to challenge the former European Championship champions Greece is a thorny challenge.

But to be optimistic, after qualifying for the playoffs through the UEFA C-level competition, Kazakhstan is only two steps away from the first intercontinental competition in team history. No matter what kind of opponent they encounter, their confidence and morale will be 100% boosted.

Moreover, Kazakhstan's performance this year is definitely worth mentioning - from a 3-2 home victory over Denmark in March, a away victory over Northern Ireland in June, to a away victory over Finland and a regrettable loss to Slovenia in October, this former powerhouse team seems to have finally explored the light in the tunnel.

Kazakhstan players celebrating wildly after defeating the Northern Ireland team away.

Kazakhstan, which had played against the Chinese men's football team three times, spent eight years at the Asian Football Confederation (1994-2002). In order to pursue a better competitive environment and development conditions, they chose to "leave Asia and enter Europe" in 2002.

According to Kurarbek Oldabayev, former president of the Kazakhstani Football Association, the association had the opportunity to join UEFA earlier, but due to some shortcomings in the National Olympic Committee, they had to invest more time.

Although it may seem reasonable, Kazakhstan's choice has not avoided controversy and questioning. Apart from the negative impact of external public opinion, the domestic atmosphere is also constantly noisy.

In the memory of commentator Genilisu, "No one knows what this change really means. Is it an expression of emotions or a true path to progress... No one can give an answer."

After 20 years of accumulation, Kazakhstani football has finally achieved a breakthrough.

If performance is the only criterion for evaluation, Kazakhstan's exit from Asia and entry into Europe is indeed difficult to say successful.

In the past 20 years, the team's total record in the world qualifiers was 3 wins, 9 draws, and 34 losses, and their total record in the European qualifiers was 7 wins, 8 draws, and 29 losses (excluding the 2024 German European Championship qualifiers). Not to mention being a ticket to the finals, a victory in a formal match is not that simple.

Ten years ago, after Kazakhstan suffered five consecutive defeats and failed to score a goal in the European Championship qualifiers, Tourism and Sports Minister Temirhan Dosmukambetov even proposed to the parliament the idea of returning to AFC.

For a while, the path of Kazakhstan's football into Europe was full of unknowns.