---
title: "Who are Qarabag FK?"
canonical: "https://readtottenham.com/2015/09/16/who-are-qarabag-fk/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Ed Payne"
section: "Uncategorized"
published: "2015-09-16T11:15:54Z"
modified: "2015-09-16T11:15:54Z"
---

# Who are Qarabag FK?

When the Europa League group stage draw was made in August, Tottenham were drawn alongside Monaco and Anderlecht in group J, along with the little known Qarabag FK. It’s fair to say that a number of Tottenham fans had never heard of the Azerbaijani club before. If that is the case, then Read Tottenham will tell you everything you need to know about the Azerbaijani league champions.

Qarabag FK were formed in 1951, after the stadium in which they were to play their home games was built. Following the stadium being built, a huge effort began to fund a professional football team. In 1966, it would come to fruition and they would play under the name Mehsul for four years from 1966-1970 in the local regional championship, finishing runners-up on one occasion in 1968. Due to a lack of financial backing, the club was withdrawn from the Azerbaijani league structure until it was reborn in 1977 as Shafaq. From 1982-1987, they were rebranded again as the Co-Operative society before playing their first season under their current name in 1988 as well as winning the title in the Azarbajen SSR local championship.

In 1992, they were one of the founding members of the Azerbaijan Premier League and to this day, remain one of only two clubs to have played in every single season from it’s inception to the present day. In 1993, due to the Nagorno-Karabakh war they were forced to relocate to the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, where they still play their home games to the present day.

After finishing 2nd in the inaugural season of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992, they won their first title in the 1993 season before not winning the league title again until the 2013-2014 season and then retaining it again in the 2014-2015 season.

During the 21 years between winning their first and second league title, they were runners up on 3 occasions and won the domestic cup on two occasions. They have since won the domestic cup again, in the 2014-2015 season.

![GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - JULY 29: Rashad Sadigov of FK Qarabag during the UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg match between Celtic and FK Qarabag at Celtic Park on July 29, 2015 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Steve Welsh/Getty Images)](https://media.readtottenham.com/readtottenham/2015/09/GettyImages-482339934.jpg)

Furthermore, in their 21 year wait without winning the league title, they were the first team from Azarbajen to win a European tie away from home when they beat Maccabi Haifa away from home in 1999 in an Intertoto Cup tie.

Fast forward to the present day and they competed in the Champions League qualifiers this season before dropping down into the Europa League, after being knocked out by Scottish Champions Celtic.

Their previous best showing in Europe came last season, where they finished 3rd behind Inter Milan and Dnipro but ahead of St Etienne in the Europa League group stages, holding Inter Milan to a famous draw in Baku. They parachuted into the Europa League after being knocked out of the Champions League in the third qualifying round by Red Bull Salzburg.

Manager Gurban Gurbanov will be hoping to go one better this time and reach the knockout stages and upset their more well-known opponents along the way. Gurbanov, one of only two people to have won the Azarbajen Premier League as a player and a coach, has been at Qarabag since 2008 and is now entering his seventh season with the club. [Speaking to Uefa.com in 2014](https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2129218.html), he said that being part of Qarabag was “like being part of a family, one where is for all and all for one”.

Gurbanov and his team will be hoping that they can advance from the Europa League group stages for the first time in the club’s history and pick up historical victories against the bigger teams starting with Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Thursday.