Did You Know? Five facts about Manchester United’s Europa League opponents FC Astana

New boys on the block

While Manchester United’s history dates back to the early 20th century, FC Astana’s fails to even span a decade.

In 2008, Kazakh clubs MegaSport Almaty and FC Alma-Ata merged to form FC Lokomotiv Astana, and gained sponsorship from the country’s National Railway Company.

A year later, the club played its first game in the new Astana Arena Stadium, which also serves as the base of the Kazakhstan national side.

On 1st June 2011, the club was renamed as FC Astana, with 12 domestic trophies following its reformation eight years ago.

To put into context the gulf in history between Thursday’s opponents, when FC Astana was created in 2011, the Red Devils had collected a whopping 53 domestic trophies and five European titles.