Some have been horse riding, others have been eating horse “four ways”.Even for the most seasoned ‘Wales Away’ veterans, Kazakhstan has been a destination with a difference.When the draw was made for 2026 World Cup qualifying in Europe, there was a collective sigh from Welsh supporters when it dawned on them that this campaign would include an 11th match with Belgium in 13 years.But at least there was a first trip to Kazakhstan – new opposition and a 7,000-mile round trip, the furthest Wales’ men would ever have travelled for a qualifier.”We’ve been waiting a long time to come here,” Gwilym Boore, who has been following Wales for three decades, says in the Astana sunshine.”Some people are doing other provisions of this, but our trip is on to Almaty, which is meant to be a different beast to Astana, and then we’re going on to Uzbekistan, we’re going to Tashkent.”We’re hoping to see the final of the Central Asian Republic tournament that’s going on at the moment, and then we’re going to Bukara, Kiva, and Samaran. We’ve got some travelling ahead of us. I’m not sure if we’ve finalised how we’re get to these places yet. It might be trains, it might be flights and it might well be automobiles.”Boore is one of more than 1,000 Wales fans who have made the long journey to Astana.Kazakhstan is a huge country, the world’s ninth largest by land area and spanning two continents.Astana is an unusual place, a shiny – somewhat soulless – concrete metropolis purpose built in 1997 as the new capital city of the country.
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Kazakhstan v Wales: Horse riding and eating horse ‘four ways’ – Wales fans in Astana
