Why did Astana and Chelsea kick off at 3:30pm in the Europa League?

Cole Palmer of Chelsea celebrates scoring his team's third goal with Noni Madueke during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Aston Villa FC at Stamford Bridge on December 01, 2024 in London, England.

Despite key players such as Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson missing from their Conference League squad, Chelsea have comfortably won their first four games in the competition, scoring a huge 18 goals in those four matches.

They are also flying high in the Premier League, just four points off the leaders Liverpool, giving manager Enzo Maresca a better start than many would have imagined.

His side faced Astana, of Kazakhstan, in their Conference League game at 3:30pm on a Thursday – but why the strange kick-off time?

Why are Chelsea kicking off at 3:30pm?

Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez (Image credit: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)

The Conference League was always going to give Chelsea the opportunity to play against less traditional European sides. So far, they have beaten teams from Switzerland, Belgium, Greece and Armenia. Up next is an away trip to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.

Chelsea actually played in Almaty, around 1,200 km away from Astana, due to renovations on Astana’s current stadium. This meant the local time was five hours ahead of England, so the match kicked off at 8:30pm local time, hence the bizarre 3:30pm kick-off time for those in England.

Enzo Maresca and Moises Caicedo (Image credit: Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Chelsea faced an eight-hour flight to the city of Almaty, one of the longest away trips possible for a European away day.

Once the players travelled over 6,000 kilometres they were met by harsh winter conditions that also affected the kick-off time.

Temperatures were set to be as low as -15 degrees. This means the time of the match could not be made any later, to a more traditional European kick-off time in London, as temperatures would continue to drop overnight.

Despite missing star man Cole Palmer, who ranked at no.3 in FourFourTwo's list of the best attacking midfielders in the world right now, Chelsea’s incredible squad depth allows them to start players such as Joao Felix, Christopher Nkunku and Enzo Fernandez in the Conference League.

Whilst the freezing conditions may have been a hurdle for the Chelsea side, Astana sit 23rd in the Conference League table, having won just one game, suggesting anything but a win for Maresca’s side would be a poor display.