Almost two decades have passed, and still the first association when football and Azerbaijan are mentioned is the match that that selection played in 2003 in Podgorica against Serbia and Montenegro in the qualifiers for the European Championship.
The sequence of events on that cold, windy February day near Gorica is well known - Peđa Mijatović and Nikola Lazetić scored goals, the team then led by Dejan Savićević from the bench had two goals in excess, and then Gurban Gurbanov, until then anonymous, entered the scene , and after that a man well remembered by the local public. He scored two goals, and Azerbaijan won the first point in the qualifiers.
Gurbanov left Montenegro with a smile again
Azerbaijani football has progressed since then, investments have also been made in infrastructure (Baku hosted Euro 2020), and Gurbanov is still present. Since 2008, he has been the coach of Karabagh, witness and creator of the greatest successes of Azerbaijani club football. He came to Montenegro (Petrovac) 12 years later, this time as the coach of Karabagh, the champion of Azerbaijan. The team played against Rudar in the 2nd round of qualification for the Champions League - after a goalless draw in the first match, Karabagh won 1:0 in the second leg under Mali Brdo, and Gurbanov left Montenegro with a smile once again.
Karbag is the "duty" champion of Azerbaijan. With the exception of 2021, when Nefchi won the title, Karabagh has been the champion since 2014. In total, it won nine titles, the first in 1993.
The kings of Azerbaijani football are not unknown to the European public. They recorded their first European victory in 1999 against Makabi Haifa in the Intertoto Cup. They reached the second ten years later against Rosenborg in the qualification for the Europa League, and they recorded their first victory in the qualification for the Champions League in 2014 against Valletta from Malta. Year after year they improved, five years ago they played in the group stage of the Champions League, but they did not manage to achieve a triumph. Chelsea, Roma and Atletico Madrid were too strong.
Karabagh became a regular participant in the group stage of the Europa League. He played for the first time in the group stage of the Europa League in 2014, and finished the competition in third place behind Inter and Dnipro, and ahead of Saint Etienne.
In the meantime, Uefa established the League of Conferences, and Karabagh finished in that competition last season. And reached the knockout stage. In the group, he won second place behind Basel, and ahead of Omonia and Kairat, only to lose to Marseille in the round of XNUMX.
This season, the team is one step away from the Champions League, which means that it has secured at least the group stage of the Europa League. Karabagh eliminated Polish Lech, Swiss Zurich and Hungarian Ferencvaros in the qualifiers. The last obstacle to the group stage is Viktorija Plzen.
Two decades away from his stadium
Due to the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Karabagh has been playing matches in Baku since 1993, not in Agdam.
A year earlier, one of the club's former players and coaches, Alhaverdi Bagirov, was killed by a mine. During the war, he recognized a former teammate among the Armenian prisoners. He hugged him, and then told the camera that it was his former teammate. When the exchange of prisoners took place, that Armenian soldier and former football player told Bagirov that he hoped they would never be on opposite sides again.
Vešović and Janković are looking for a debut in the LŠ
Montenegro will certainly be represented in the next season's Champions League by Atlético Madrid's stopper Stefan Savić. However, the number of Montenegrin footballers could increase. Marko Vešović and Marko Janković have a great chance with Qarabag.
Vešović arrived in Karabagh last July and won the title of the previous season. He played six games this season.
And Marko Janković arrived in Azerbaijan this summer. He has been playing in Israel since January last year - first for Beitar, and then in the second part of the previous season he moved to Hapoel from Tel Aviv.
In his career, Janković also played for Partizan, OFK Belgrade, Maribor, Spal and Krotone.
Vešović was a player for Legia, Specija, Rijeka, Torino, Crvena Zvezda and Budućnost.
The Montenegrin representatives did not have the opportunity to play in the group stage of the Champions League, but their wish may come true this season.
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