THE CZECH FAILURE

September means it is time to sum up the results of the European campaign of Azerbaijani football clubs during the summer season. Garabagh FC (Aghdam) has traditionally set a new record in the history of the country's football by reaching the group stage of the European competitions for the ninth time.

Garabagh started with Champions League qualification, which saw them beat Poland's Lech, Switzerland's Zurich and Hungary's Ferencvaros in three rounds of bilateral competition. Thus, Garabagh reached the Champions League play-offs, where they played against the Czech champion Viktoria.

Failed test

The chances of the Azerbaijani and Czech champions were initially assessed as 50/50. In fact, so were Garabagh's chances against all the clubs they had played against in the Champions League qualifiers. Therefore, the chances of getting to the next round has always been decided in the second game: Garabagh defeated Lech (5-1) and had to even play against Zurich in the extra period to decide the winner (2-2, which allowed Garabagh to pass on). Then they beat Ferencvaros (3-1). Remarkably, the success of Garabagh in the above games against the Swiss and Hungarian champions was achieved in the away games, which proves the stress-resistance of the Azerbaijani champion.

In addition, Garabagh have scored a lot during this European campaign, something the team often lacked in previous years. But it is noteworthy that the Aghdam club had some serious rivals in qualification.

Therefore, Garabagh approached the game against Viktoria in good mood and with good chances. According to football experts, in the previous rounds, the Czech champion's rivals were weaker than those who played against the Aghdam club—Finnish HIK and Moldovan Sheriff. So, by showing their best, Garabagh had all the chances of beating Viktoria.

As expected, the game against Victoria was a tough one. In the first game in Baku, Garabagh did not do well. The Czech champion has demonstrated competence in defence and threatened Garabagh’s goal whenever possible. These days the first game of a two-round encounter looks like a boxing match: the opponents study each other, trying to minimise errors, to identify weaknesses and prepare a springboard for attacks. In addition, the abolition of the away goal advantage rule also makes the first game an exploratory one. Therefore, the result of the first game (0-0) should have surprised no one. On the other hand, Garabagh did not let in a goal for the first time in seven games, which should also have made them optimistic before the return game.

As expected, the second bout started with the hosts' attacks, but Garabagh withstood the offensive and gradually moved the game away from their goal. Towards the end of the first half, the Azerbaijani champions converted a free-kick and managed to open the scoring, making a good bid to qualify for the Champions League group stage.

It was clear that in the second half the Czech champions would go forward aggresively. In such cases, it is important to sustain the first 15-20 minutes and wait for the opponent to take risks and open up, opening up space and opportunities for Garabagh's quick forwards to increase the scoreline. They used the same tactic against Ferencvaros before when the Azerbaijani club effectively exploited gaps in the Hungarian defence.

But that was not the case with the Czech champions. Garabagh's problems came rather unexpectedly. A harmless free-kick away from the Aghdam club's goal turned into an error by the goalkeeper and allowed Viktoria to level the score and settle (the away goal was no longer an advantage).

Garabagh’s goalkeeper Shahruddin Magomedaliyev is good at the goal post, which he proved in the first meeting against Viktoria, when he saved his team from a goal more than once, but he constantly has problems at exits. This time too, Shahruddin went to the place where there were enough Garabagh players without him and who would have coped with a dangerous free-kick without any fuss. The Aghdam goalkeeper didn't get to the ball, but left the gate empty, which was exploited by the Czech team's player, who set the score at 1-1.

In fact, the second goal was also partly the goalkeeper's fault: there was a cross into the penalty area, Shahruddin seemed to go to take the ball, but then suddenly changed his mind and the Aghdam defender failed to clear it out of the field. After that, two more touches from the Viktoria players and the ball was in the goal. Now Garabagh had to urgently score a second goal to level the score but to no avail.

Thus, Garabagh opened the door to the Champions League group stage, but failed to enter it, leaving this chance to Viktoria. Instead Garabagh made it to the Europa League.

Garabagh deserved a good B for the summer European campaign. Of course, it is a shame that the team failed to qualify for the Champions League, especially since they had a very good chance to do so. But that’s the way it is. We need to draw conclusions and move forward strengthening individual positions where possible.

How much did the club earn?

Garabagh's failure to qualify for the UEFA Champions League has been a significant loss for the team. For qualifying for the Champions League’s group stage they could receive €15.64m and a further €1.137m thanks to their ranking (€16.777m in total). Plus, every point earned in the Champions League could potentially bring in another €930,000, with a win worth €2.8m.

The Europa League fares are different: €3.63m for progressing to the group stage, with €630,000 extra for every win and €210,000 for a draw.

Aghdam will receive €5m for qualifying for the Champions League play-offs and €3.63m for qualifying for the Europa League group stage. Thus, the summer campaign allowed the Azerbaijani champion to earn €8.63m (participation in the European competitions in the 2021/2022 season brought in a total of €6.63m). So, in the summer of 2022, the Aghdam club have earned more money than they did during all of last year's European games. At the same time, they can earn even more this season, as they will play at least six matches in the Europa League group stage.

Europa League

The Azerbaijani champions now face the challenge of a successful autumn campaign in the Europa League, trying to qualify for the spring stage of the tournament. It will be difficult to do so, given the opponents the team has to compete in the group stage.

Garabagh were among the seeded teams in the Europa League draw and were placed in the second basket, which would have allowed them to hope to win the relatively weaker teams in the third and fourth baskets. But as a rule Garabagh are very unlucky with the draw, and so it was this time too. Aghdam got the Greek Olympiacos from the first basket, which is not their strongest opponent. But from the third and fourth baskets, German Freiburg and French Nantes joined Garabagh in the group stage. They are not the strongest teams at home, but let's not forget that the German and French championships are in the top five on the European continent. Anyway, it will not be easy for Garabagh to defeat them. To a certain extent, Garabagh's group can be regarded as ‘the group of death’, because it is the most evenly matched by the strength of the participant teams. Now, the Aghdam club have six important matches to play.

Let's not forget that this year's group stage of the European competitions will be short. Normally, the group stage of European competitions would end in the first decade of December, but this time Garabagh will play the first game on September 8 and the last one on November 3. This is because of the World Cup starting at the end of November in Qatar. Therefore, the group stage of all European cups will be held in the shortest possible time. So, the Aghdam club needs to take the bull by the horns straight away.

Start of Garabagh’s opponents in national championships

Greek Olympiacos are one of the country's two most popular clubs. They have won the national championship 47 times, including the 2021/2022 season. Like Garabagh, they started the current European campaign with Champions League qualification. But the club lost in the second round to Maccabi Haifa and went on to qualify for the Europa League, where it beat the Czech Slovan and Apollon from Cyprus.

Olympiacos has a lot of experience in European competitions, as they played in the Champions League and other tournaments on several occasions. It is an experienced mid-table European club.

The Greek championship has just begun, with only the first round left behind. Olympiacos beat Yannina. The Aghdam club will play against the Greek club on October 6 (home) and October 13 (away).

Germany's Freiburg is one of the country’s oldest clubs founded in 1904. Despite its rich history, the club is not among the elite in Germany. In recent history, the team has more often balanced between the first and second Bundesliga tournaments. Prior to that, Freiburg had only appeared in European competitions four times. That shows that the German club have no particular experience in European competitions. Freiburg ended up in the Europa League group stage as Germany's representative (finished 6th in the German league in the season 2021/2022). In the German championship the team has already played four games, winning three and losing one, and is currently the third strongest. So the players of the German club are in good form at the moment.

Garabagh will start the group stage of the Europa League against Freiburg - away on September 8. And on November 3 they will finish the group stage again in a game against the German club.

Nantes of France was founded in the early 1940s. The club's best days were at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century. It won the national championship in 1995 and managed to win two consecutive French Cups (1999, 2000). In the 21st century the team more often balanced between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. The club returned to the elite of French football in 2013, but had little success. Nantes won the French Cup in the 2021/2022 season and made it to the group stage of the Europa League in the 2022/2023 season.

Nantes are not doing well in the French league. In Ligue-1, the team has played three games: two draws and one defeat - 14th out of 20 teams.

Garabagh will play against Nantes on September 15 (home) and October 27 (away).

Thus, Garabagh have enough experience to make it through to the European cup in the spring season. It all depends on the Aghdam players...