Qarabağ FK Qualifies for Europa Conference League Group Stage

The Qarabağ FK football club from Azerbaijan has made it through to the all-new Europa Conference League.

On Thursday, Scottish Aberdeen conceded three goals from Qarabağ FK in the second leg of the play-off round at the home pitch Pittodrie Stadium.

The Azerbaijani team finished the first half of the game with a 2:0 lead thanks to midfielders Tural Bayramov and Kady Iuri Borges Malinowski. Abdullah Zoubir has made it three shortly before the end of the game at the 72nd minute.

Aberdeen’s Lewis Ferguson scored his club’s only goal from a penalty shoot at the second minute, added to the game’s 90-minute full time.

With the overall score following two games, Qarabağ FK has won a ticket to the 2021-2022 Europa Conference League. In the first game in Baku on August 19, the Azerbaijani team defeated its rival 1:0.

This year’s Europa Conference League is the first edition of UEFA’s all-new football competition. The annual tournament is the third tier of the European club football after the supreme Champions League and the second-best Europa League. Clubs can qualify for the competition based on their performance in national leagues and cup competitions.

The group stage qualification of Qarabağ FK comes to be the eighth successive European journey for the club since 2015. Previously, the club has made it through the group stages of the Europa League six times and has once achieved the same success in the Champions League. 

Meanwhile, in the tournament’s other games Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan have won 3:1 over Luxembourg’s Fola to secure group stage participation. Azerbaijan’s Neftchi PFK have lost 0:4 to Israeli Maccabi Haifa and lost chances to join Qarabağ FK and Kairat Almaty in the group stages of the 2021-2022 Europa Conference League.

The 32-team group stage draw of the tournament took place on Friday. Qarabağ FK and Kairat Almaty were placed in Group H alongside Swiss Basel and the Omonia FC of Cyprus. The first games of the group will take place on September 16. Kairat Almaty will receive Omonia FC in Kazakhstan, while Basel will travel to Azerbaijan for playing with Qarabağ FK.