FC Qarabağ grabs another chance at rewriting Azerbaijani football history Journey to glory

It has been decided which football teams Qarabağ FK will be facing in the UEFA Champions League following the draw for the league stage that took place in Monaco on August 28.

The results of the draw concluded that the leader of Azerbaijan's Premier League will welcome the following teams in their home stadiums in Baku:

- Chelsea FC (London, England)

- Eintracht Frankfurt (Frankfurt, Germany) 

- AFC Ajax (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

- FC København (Copenhagen, Denmark) 

The Qarabağ team will embark on away trips to face the following teams:

- FC Liverpool (Liverpool, England) 

- SL Benfica (Lisbon, Portugal)

- SSC Napoli (Naples, Italy)

- Athletic Club (Bilbao, Spain)

The league stage matches of the Champions League will start on September 16 while the tournament's final will take place at the Puskas Arena in Hungary, Budapest on May 30, 2026.

Benefits of Qarabağ’s entry extend to all Premier League clubs

The fruits of Qarabağ’s labour will be enjoyed not only by the deserving team but the country's league as a whole. As local media reports, the European Football Association will provide financial assistance to other clubs in the country as part of its solidarity program.

In particular, all of the Azerbaijan Premier League's 11 clubs (excluding Qarabağ) will receive funding worth €800,000 each, which is subject to increases depending on Qarabağ's performance in the group stage.

As for the Aghdam club itself, it has already secured an award of €18,620,000 for reaching the Champions League. Further UEFA bonuses for their participation in the qualifiers are also to be expected, while positive performance in the group stage will also be awarded financially: a win will earn €2,100,000, and a draw €700,000.

Qarabağ’s road to overcoming trauma from forced displacement

Qarabağ FK secured its spot in the Champions League group stage for the second time in its history (first being in the 2017-2018 season) after a tense second-leg match in Baku against Hungary’s Ferencváros. Although the Azerbaijani champions lost the home match 2–3, their earlier 3–1 away victory in the first leg ensured their progress on aggregate, with a combined score of 5–4. 

Formally called Qarabağ Futbol Klubu, the club competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the country’s top-tier football competition. It was established in 1987 in the city of Aghdam. It was among the founding members of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992 and, a year later, made history to win the league championship as the first non-Baku-based team, which with clubs like Neftçi PFK were dominating the sport. 

The football team originating from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan was stripped of the opportunity to play in its home arena, the Imarat Stadium ever since July 23, 1993, when armed separatist forces of Armenian ethnicity occupied a significant part of the Aghdam district, including the stadium's area. Due to the outbreak of the First Karabakh War and the subsequent illegal occupation of the region, which Azerbaijan would have to endure for almost three decades, the club hosts its matches in Baku in two arenas: the Azersun Arena and the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium, the latter of which also serves as the venue for Azerbaijan’s national team games.

Thanks to the liberation of the region by Azerbaijan's military following the Second Karabakh War the football club was able to breathe new life into their hometown when they returned to play a symbolic match in November 2020. The original Imarat Stadium was razed to the ground by the illegal forces in the wake of heavy artillery attacks on the area in 1993 and subsequent Armenian vandalism during the decades of occupation. Nevertheless, the players returned to the grounds of its original pit, which still bore the scars of the war. 

Reviewing Qarabağ's chances for success

So what are the chances of Club Manager Gurban Gurbanov’s team in these upcoming eight matches? Can Qarabağ, which is no stranger to rewriting the history of Azerbaijani football, do it again by reaching the next stage of the Champions League? According to the predictions made by Vugar Vugarli for Caliber.Az, some so-called “experts” on social media began claiming that Qarabağ isn’t ready to compete in the Champions League — saying that the best this current squad can hope for is the European League, and so on. 

He urges, however, to not dismiss the fact that it is that same Qarabağ that qualified for the Champions League without having a prolific striker or a blockbuster transfer. Yet the team not only won matches but sometimes thrashed opponents, even on their home turf. 

"Of course, saying that Gurban Gurbanov’s players could do the same against Liverpool would be overly optimistic — but holding their own against Benfica in Lisbon is well within our team’s capabilities.

At their home stadium, Qarabağ could even beat, say, Copenhagen — something they have already done not long ago (in August 2017). It was thanks to that victory that the club reached the Champions League group stage for the first time. So why not do it again?" he wonders.

As Qarabağ has made the impossible possible so many times, Vugarli states that he wouldn't be surprised "if the brand of Azerbaijani football creates another European sensation and instead of the 3–4 points [that] I realistically think they can get in these matchups, Gurbanov and his team aim for more."  Azerbaijan’s football enthusiasts will undoubtedly share his optimism and rally behind FK Qarabağ, offering their full support to help turn this dream into reality.

By Nazrin Sadigova