EUROPEAN CUPS: THE BEGINNING

At the end of the football season in Azerbaijan all attention is traditionally focused on Europe. We already know who the opponents of Azerbaijan's clubs in the Champions League and Europa League will be. Like last year, we have again been fortunate with the draw. In our first matches our clubs have been given relatively easy opponents.

The meeting between Azerbaijani champions Qarabag and the Luxemburg team Dudelange in the second qualifying round of the Champions League will be the first ever between the two clubs. Azerbaijan first fielded teams in continental tournaments back in 1994 and they have faced opponents from 43 countries.

Interestingly, the club from Agdam cost four times more than their opponents. This is based on the value of the players as quoted on the well-known transfermarkt.de website, which says that the overall value on the transfer market of the Qarabag team is 11,780m euros, whereas the Luxemburg team is valued at only 2.7m euros.

Significantly, the overall value of three of the Qarabag side is greater than the whole of Dudelange's. Richard Almeida (1.2m euros), Reynaldo and Miguel Madera (1m euros each) are valued at 3.2m euros, which is 500,000 euros more than the value of the whole Luxemburg side.

Dudelange's most expensive player is valued at 200,000 euros, which is the value of two other players - Sanel Ibrahimovic and Rodrigue Dikaba.

The first meeting between the two sides will take place in Baku on 12 or 13 July, with the return a week later.

Dudelange created a sensation in 2012 when they knocked Salzburg of Austria out in the second qualifying stage, although they then went out to Maribor. In the last three seasons the Luxemburg club has failed to get through any round in European competitions.

Azerbaijani Cup finalists Neftci will meet Balzan of Malta in the first qualifying round of the Europa League. Although this club, which represents a town of the same name, was formed back in 1937 it has never had much success. Its biggest achievements have been first (in 2011) and second (in 2003) in the First Division. 

Balzan finished fourth last season, making their debut in European cups last year, but losing both games to Zeleznicar (Bosnia and Hercegovina). They play their home matches at the Ta' Qali stadium, which holds 17,000. Its team includes foreign players from Brazil, Colombia, Montenegro, Italy and Moldova.

The Maltese club is one that the Azerbaijanis would be expected to beat, as our clubs have come out best in all their previous matches against Maltese teams. Three years ago Xazar Lankaran romped into the next round after being Sliema, and two years ago Qarabag marked their debut in the Champions League by beating Valletta 4-0 at home, repeating their best achievement in European competitions. 

In the first qualifying stage of the Europa League Qabala are up against Samtredia. This is the second club from Georgia that the "red-and-blacks" have faced. Last season, in the first qualifying round of the Europa League, Qabala faced Dinamo (Tbilisi), and despite losing away 1-2, they won the return leg 2-0 and reached the next round.

Qabala's opponents this time - Samtredia from the town of the same name - were founded in 1936. The club plays its home matches at the Erosi Manjgaladze Stadium, which holds 15,000. The team used to play under the names Lokomotiv, Sanavardo, Djuba and Iberia. The Samtredia of today first entered the second division of the USSR Championship under the name of Lokomotiv. The club is also famous for having raised the former Georgian international, Kakha Kaladze. In the 2015-16 season Samtredia won silver medals of the Georgian championship for the second time in their history and thereby gained entry into European competitions. The team's chief coach is local professional Gia Tsetsadze. The Samtredia team is made up solely of Georgian players.

Kapaz, who represent Azerbaijan in the Europa League, will face Dacia of Moldova. The Chisinau club is only 17 years old. Formed in 1999, they finished fourth in Division A in their first season (2000-01). The following year they were promoted to the top league after winning their division. By finishing fourth, they qualified for the Intertoto Cup, where the "yellow wolves" got through two rounds only to bow out to Schalke of Germany.

This is the second time in their history that Dacia will be visiting Azerbaijan in European competitions. In 2007, at the first stage of the Intertoto Cup, their opponents were Baki. With both matches ending 1-1, a penalty shoot-out ended in victory for Dacia. After winning through another round, the club went out to Hamburg.

The club is owned by the Russian, Adlan Shishkanovich, and its president is Zinaida Zhioredi. The team's manager is the Ukrainian Oleh Bejenar, 45, who has been in charge since last year. The club plays its home matches at the Zimbru Stadium, which holds 10,500.

Dacia have 12 foreign players, seven of whom are Ukrainians. Bejenar also has players from Macedonia, Russia, the Czech Republic and Togo at his disposal. Dacia also have seven internationals in their squad: Artiom Gaiduchevici, Simeon Bulgaru, Veaceslav Posmac, Eugeniu Cosiuc and Vitaliy Bordian all play for Moldova and Sapol Mani and Abdoul Mamah for Togo. Denys Kozhanov used to play for Ukraine. Jiri Jeslinek plays for the Czech U-21 side and Maksym Feshchuk for the Ukrainian national youth team.

As we can see, the Azerbaijani clubs are perfectly capable of beating their opponents and reaching the next stage of the competitions. If our sides do make the next stage of the Europa League, Qabala would be up against the winners of the tie between Aktobe (Kazakhstan) and MTK (Hungary); Kapaz would face the winners of the Admiral Wacker (Austria) - Spartak (Slovakia) clash, and Neftci, if they beat the Maltese, will get the chance to face the winners of Shkendija (Macedonia) and Cracovia (Poland).