Out of the four Azerbaijani teams participating in European competitions, three are continuing their journey. As expected, “karabakh” defeated the weaker Irish side “Shelbourne” in both matches and advanced to the third qualifying round of the Champions League. It’s a bit difficult to assess the strength of the team at this stage, since the Irish team was not considered a serious obstacle for Gurban Gurbanov’s squad. We can also say that “Karabakh” got lucky with the next round — facing North Macedonia’s Shkëndija, a team not strong enough to stop the Baku-based Aghdam team.

The same can be said about Sabah, which is competing in the Conference League. After easily overcoming Moldova’s Petrocub, the Baku team faces a tough away match in Bulgaria in the third round. Levski is a fairly experienced team. Not fielding a single Azerbaijani in the starting lineup, Sabah reminded us of famous charity matches of the past in their return game against Petrocub. With 11 players from 11 different countries on the pitch, the team could easily be called a “World XI.” Let’s see what this multinational representative can achieve against Levski.

Zira, on the other hand, was not so lucky in the draw. Croatia’s Hajduk was a stronger opponent compared to those faced by the other Azerbaijani teams. However, this is no excuse for their loss. Both matches showed that a good result was possible. Overall, the opportunities provided to Azerbaijani club football today should allow us to surpass clubs from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Zira’s head coach Rashad Sadygov has been given a solid mandate by the club’s leadership. Thus, when he said in the post-match press conference that he considered himself a winner, he was, in reality, still a loser.

The most pleasant surprise came from Araz-Nakhchivan. Making their debut in European competitions and not having made much of an impression in the Premier League last season — finishing third under certain conditions and a bit of luck — expectations were not high for the Nakhchivan team. Even if Araz had exited the tournament in the first round, it wouldn’t have been fair to look down on them. Let’s not forget that Greece’s Aris was not a weak team either — in many aspects such as experience, squad quality, and finances, they were superior to our representative. Nevertheless, Elmar Bakhshiyev’s team delivered a much better and higher-quality performance than expected in both matches, achieving a historic victory. It seems the club’s management did a very successful and well-strategized job during the summer break. In the next round, Araz-Nakhchivan will face Cyprus’ Omonia, a team with experience and a solid squad. But Bakhshiyev has already proven he can surprise us, and showed in the Aris match that he has great tactical and strategic potential as a coach.