Meant to start at 10.45. No doubt there'll be lots of drivel to get through first. Here's a breakdown of our possible opponents: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spfl/champions-league-draw-teams-celtic-could-face-1-3038179
Who are Shakhtyor Karagandy? Champions of the Kazakhstan Premier League for the past two seasons, they survived being expelled from the league for five years back in 2009 when the club was caught up in a match fixing scandal. On appeal, the club were docked nine points. They have been ever presents in the top flight since its formation in 1992 but failed to trouble the top until their back-to-back title successes in 2011 and 2012. How did they qualify? Their run in this season's UEFA Champions League suggests Celtic won't be in for an easy ride. BATE Borisov, top seeds in the second qualifying round ahead of Lennon's men, were defeated 2-0 on aggregate, with the Kazakhs winning 1-0 in both games. Albanian side Skënderbeu Korçë were then eliminated 5-3 over two legs for Shakhtyor to book their place in the final stage before the groups. A 3-0 home win was followed up by 3-2 defeat away. What are their best results in Europe? This season represents their best ever season in European competition, reaching the play-off round for the first time in their history. They were eliminated at the first time of asking in their debut season in the Champions League last season, falling to Slovan Liberec 2-1 after extra time. They featured in the UEFA Cup and Europa League in previous years, defeating Koper but losing to Debrecen, Ruch Chorzow and St Patrick's Athletic over three seasons. Where are they in their current campaign? Shakhtyor are halfway through their league season, finishing third after a 22-game first half of the campaign, 12 points behind leaders Aktobe. Like in Scotland, they have now qualified for the championship group, with points reset for the second half of the season. Current squad Their squad is heavily comprised of local players with 16 members of the team from Kazakhstan with a few representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Serbia, Belarus and Armenia. Lithuanian midfielder Gediminas Vičius was the clubâs top scorer in the Kazakhstan Premier League last season with seven goals. This season, Sergey Khizhnichenko and Roger Canas have shared nine goals between them. Their new dangerman however is Igor Zenkovich, who has bagged three goals since moving mid-season from Akzhayik, where he had netted nine goals in 12 matches. Defensively, Shakhtyor have kept three clean sheets in their four Champions League qualifiers so far and only conceded 15 goals as they claimed the 2012 title. Stadium Shakhtar Karagandy normally play at the 19,000 capacity Shakhtyor Stadium in Karaganda. If the game is played there, Celtic fans will be relieved to know that it's a grass pitch, and the bowl stadium is home to one of Kazakhstan's finest Oomph Bands. However, they have played their previous games at the Astana Arena in Astana, a 30,000 stadium with a grass surface.
Banned from league for five years, reduced on appeal to 9 point deduction. Sounds like an SFA-style decision
