Who are Dundalk's Champions League opponents Qarabag FK of Azerbaijan?

Dundalk’s dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Riga FC in the Champions League last Wednesday night has set up a second qualifying round tie with powerful Azerbaijani outfit, Qarabag FK.

What European pedigree do Qarabag have?

It’s a daunting task for Vinny Perth’s side, who now take on a team that have won the Azerbaijan Premier League in each of the last six years and they’ve also played a staggering 70 matches in European competition. To put that figure into context, that’s the same amount Dundalk have played since their very first against FC Zurich back in 1963.

The past five seasons has seen Qarabag win a place in the group stages of the Europa League four times, as well as reach the promised land that is the Champions League Group Stages in 2017, when they famously drew twice with Atletico Madrid both home and away.

Who are Qarabag FK?

It hasn’t always been plain sailing for Qarabag though, far from it. The club itself dates back to the 1950s when it was formed in Agdam, a city which fell victim to the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in 1993 and has since become the largest ghost town in the world, often being referred to as the ‘Hiroshima of Caucasus.’

The club remained homeless for the best part of the next decade and were virtually bankrupt by 2001. However, they were was saved with the help of the late Heydar Aliyev, formerly with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and at the time President of Azerbaijan.

Qarabag then found its new base in the capital city of Baku, which is over 200 miles from their original home and completed their resurrection by winning the Azerbaijan Premier League in 2014.

Who to watch out for?

Qarabag won their sixth consecutive Azerbaijan Premier League title in May and defeated Albanian champions Partizani Tirana 2-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round of this season’s Champions League.



Among the Qarabag players Dundalk will have to watch out for are Michel and Magaye Gueye, who both played in the English Premier League for Birmingham City and Everton respectively.

New signing Jaime Romero is a winger that’s previously played in La Liga and Serie A, while Brazilian full-back Ailton has just joined the club on loan from Stuttgart, where he played in the Bundesliga.

The squad, managed by former Azerbaijan boss Gurban Gurbanov, boasts nine full internationals from the Eurasian country, including captain Rashad Sadygov, who has won over a century of caps.

Midfield duo Simeon Slavchev and Filip Ozobic are respective Bulgarian and Croatian internationals, while new recruit Faycal Rherras has been capped by Morocco.

Qarabag’s biggest goalscoring threat comes in the form of Mahir Emreli, who was top scorer in the Azerbaijan Premier League in 2018/19.

Who will the winners/losers face?



The winners of this tie will face either APOEL (Cyprus) or FK Sutjeska (Montenegro) in the third qualifying round, while the losers will likely take on Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia), who are heavy favourites to beat Kosovan minnows Feronikeli in the Europa League second qualifying round.

 

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