Qarabağ: 12 years of glory, memory and history Reflections by Teymur Atayev

Even after their 1–4 home defeat to Twente, the overwhelming majority of fans continued to support Qarabağ. Such loyalty truly has to be earned — enough to acquire the unofficial status of a people’s team.

How many decades have we spent rooting for Qarabağ, and how much has this team, in turn, shared our concerns over the fate of Azerbaijan, acting not only on the sporting field, but also on the ideological — and, broadly speaking, political — stage. If anything, one could even call it geopolitical. That is simply the truth.

Aghdam’s Qarabağ has become a living part of the history of modern Azerbaijan, travelling a path from painful defeats on its home ground to convincing victories, including away wins over European football giants. Some of those victories — and this is a particularly important detail — came on dates of profound significance to the Azerbaijani people.

And rather than make unsubstantiated claims, let us take a quick look at what the artificial intelligence (AI) that has become so popular today can tell us through Google. Yes, we all know that AI is highly effective at compiling information from texts available online. But what matters more to us here is the way it approaches the key parameters that characterize the Aghdam-based club.

First and foremost, AI describes Qarabağ as a key ideological symbol in the context of the Karabakh conflict, embodying the concept of national resistance and the will to victory. It also notes that, following the occupation of Aghdam, the club was forced to relocate to Baku, acquiring the status of a “team in exile” and the unofficial nickname “the refugee team,” thereby reminding European audiences of the plight of internally displaced people.

(As an aside, it is worth noting that in 2014, the Turn the Page blog included Qarabağ among the “ghost teams” that brought together “football clubs from abandoned cities.”)

Following the liberation of Aghdam from Armenian occupation, the club’s ideological context underwent a transformation: from a symbol of loss and hope, Qarabağ became an embodiment of the return of the lands.

When it comes to Qarabağ’s historic and symbolic victories, perhaps the first that comes to mind is the one achieved on July 23, 2009 — the date on which Aghdam was occupied by Armenian forces in 1993. Qarabağ defeated Rosenborg to advance to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. And Rashad Sadygov’s brilliant free-kick goal remains etched in the memory to this day.

On August 23, 2017, the 24th anniversary of the occupation of Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli and Jabrayil districts, Qarabağ became the first Azerbaijani club in history to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage.

In October 2020, amid the Second Karabakh War, the Aghdam-based club secured a place in the Europa League group stage by defeating Legia Warsaw 3–0 in the Polish capital.

On November 4, 2021, just four days before the first anniversary of the Victory in the Patriotic War, Qarabağ became the first Azerbaijani club in history to secure a place in the knockout stage of a European competition, qualifying for the UEFA Conference League playoffs.

On November 7, 2024, one day before the fourth anniversary of the Victory in the Second Karabakh War, Qarabağ defeated Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt away from home in the league phase of the UEFA Europa League. The triumph went down in history as the “Victory Day Victory.”

On November 28, 2020, just 20 days after the Victory in the Patriotic War, Qarabağ returned to Aghdam after 27 (!) years to play a symbolic match at the Imarat Stadium. The game took place as part of a visit by members of the diplomatic corps and heads of international organizations’ missions in Azerbaijan to Aghdam, which had been liberated from occupation.

It is fair to agree that the above facts, alongside the club’s sporting achievements, unequivocally attest to the ideological dimension of the Aghdam-based club.

In light of this, it is worth recalling how closely President Ilham Aliyev has always followed Qarabağ’s performances. In 2017, during a meeting with Qarabağ representatives following the club’s qualification for the UEFA Champions League group stage, he described the achievement as historic, stressing its significance because it had been secured by the team that is dear to all of us and bears the name of Karabakh. “Therefore, your victory is of tremendous importance and meaning. It is not just a sporting victory, it is a victory of our state, the Azerbaijani youth and patriotic people,” the President concluded. 

In December 2021, while receiving Qarabağ players and coaches following the club’s qualification for the Conference League knockout stage, he recalled a number of controversial refereeing decisions in matches involving the Agdam side and described them not as mistakes, but as acts of injustice. The head of state attributed this “disgraceful picture” to “double standards, and prejudice against us, our country.”

In September 2022, congratulating Qarabağ on its victory over French side Nantes in a Europa League group-stage match, the President wrote on his official X account: “Qarabag (Azerbaijan)-Nantes (France)-3:0. Crushed! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!”

In January 2026, once again congratulating Qarabağ, this time on its brilliant victory over German side Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Champions League, President Ilham Aliyev wrote that justice had prevailed despite unfair and biased refereeing decisions. He stressed that this was not the first time “referees appointed by UEFA have attempted to block Qarabağ’s path to victory with unfair and biased decisions.”

Perhaps even this brief overview of the activities and journey, so to speak, of the Aghdam-based club is enough to illustrate Qarabağ’s significance to the Azerbaijani people as a whole. And it could hardly be otherwise. After all, we have always seen the fire in the players’ eyes and the determination with which they step onto the pitch. This is one of the defining characteristics of the team.

For 12 consecutive years, Qarabağ, led by Gurban Gurbanov, had reached the main stage of European club competitions, stumbling only two days ago. Twelve years… This figure alone provides an opportunity to briefly turn to the philosophy of cycles.

According to the Dictionary of Symbols by Spanish writer and art historian Juan Eduardo Cirlot, compiled in the 20th century, the number 12 is associated with the twelve months and symbolizes cyclicality — the alternation of ascending and descending phases. The same number is present in music: the 12 notes of the chromatic scale ultimately bring us back to the starting note, but in a new octave. As musicologist Alexander Maykapar notes, after passing through these 12 steps, we once again find ourselves at the same point from which we began our journey. The cycle closes — and a new one begins.

From this perspective, we can also look at Qarabağ’s 12 uninterrupted years of participation in European competitions — from Twente (the note “C”) to… Twente (the same “C” note, but now in a new key).

Thus, Qarabağ has completed its current cycle. A twelve-year cycle. Yet we know perfectly well that, both in music and in life, new cycles lie ahead, bringing new victories and many-voiced achievements, God willing!

Thank you, Qarabağ, for all the positive emotions you have given us and, so often, for the indescribable joy brought by your unforgettable victories! You are part of our beautiful history, a history in which the brilliant Victory in the Patriotic War also helped you reach new heights on the sporting front.

And so we look forward to the beginning of your new cycle in the near future — a cycle marked, as always, by a succession of memorable victories.