Match Pack: Athletic Club vs Qarabag FK (Champions League MD3)

After losing their first two matches against Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, Athletic Club will be looking to get some points on the board in this season's UEFA Champions League when they take on Qarabag FK at San Mames on Wednesday evening.

 

Match Info

San Mames, Bilbao

UEFA Champions League, League Phase MD3

Wednesday October 22, 18:45 CEST

Tickets can be purchased via this link. 

 

Team news

Ernesto Valverde has named a 23-man squad for Wednesday afternoon's clash.

Valverde's and Paredes' pre-match comments

Catch up with everything the gaffer and Aitor had to say.

 

The Opponents

Qarabag FK were founded in 1951 in the city of Aghdam, in the Karabakh region, under the name Mehsul. In 1969, the team withdrew from the league due to poor financial management. In 1977, they were renamed Shafaq. From 1982 to 1987, they were called 'Kooperator' (Co-operative Society).

In 1987, the club changed names to Qarabag Futbol Klubu and became a founding member of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992.

Nicknamed Atlılar (The Horsemen), Göy-ağlar (Blue and Whites) or Qaçqın Klub (Refugee Club), Qarabag are the only major Azerbaijani side to represent the war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh region. 

The club enjoys strong support from the former population of Aghdam, as well as from some 500,000 internally displaced Azerbaijanis from the Karabakh area. What's more, due to recent successes, they now have a broad fan base throughout the country.

Although they originally played at the Imarat Stadium, Qarabag have been based in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, since the first Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993. The team initially competed at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, which they still use occasionally for important European matches, along with the Baku Olympic Stadium. However, the Azersun Arena has hosted most of Qarabag FK's league matches since its construction in 2015.

Qarabag are Azerbaijan's most successful club, with 21 domestic titles (12 Leagues, eight Cups and one Super Cup) plus another three from the era when they competed in Soviet Union tournaments.

The Horsemen have participated in European competitions 22 times. In 2017, they became the first Azerbaijani team in history to qualify for the Champions League group stage.

In the 2021/22 UEFA Conference League, Qarabag finished second in their group, becoming the first Azerbaijani side to ever advance to the knockout stage of a European competition. They were defeated by Marseille in the subsequent play-off match.

Their best European performance came in 2023/24 as they reached the Europa League Round of 16, where they were knocked out by eventual winners Bayer Leverkusen, losing 4-5 on aggregate.
 

Head coach:

The current head coach is Gurban Gurbanov, who has been in charge since 2008 and is generally regarded as one of the best Azerbaijani managers of all time.

He was also a successful player. A striker, he played for several teams from Azerbaijan and Russia from 1989 until 2006. From January 2006 until September 2025, he held the record for the most goals scored for the Azerbaijani national team, with 14 strikes in 68 appearances.

Upon becoming Qarabag manager, he differed from the style at the time, focusing on signing local players as opposed to foreigners and adopting a short-passing game.
 

Standout players:

Qarabag are known for mixing international talent with local players, with many footballers in their squad representing the Azerbaijani national team.

The following footballers were called up to the national side for their October internationals: Shakhruddin Magomedaliyev (GK); Elvin Cafarguliyev, Behlul Mustafazade, Abbas Hüseynov (DF); Toral Bayramov (MF); Nariman Akhundzade, Musa Qurbanlı (FW).

Among others, the squad’s foreign contingent includes: Oleksiy Mykolayovych (GK, Ukraine), Fabijan Buntic (GK, Croatia), Mateusz Kochalski (GK, Poland); Kevin Medina (DF, Colombia), Matheus Silva (DF, Brazil), Marko Janković (MF, Montenegro), Emannuel Addai (MF, Ghana), Leandro Andrade (MF, Cape Verde) and Abdellah Zoubir (FW, France), who is the second highest goalscorer in Qarabaq history.

During the summer, the Azerbaijani side brought in more foreign reinforcements, such as: Dani Bolt (DF, Brazil), Samy Mmaee (DF, Morocco), Chriso (MF, Ivory Coast), Camilo Durán (FW, Colombia), Pedro Bicalho (MF, Brazil), Joni Montiel (FW, Spain).
 

Recent form:

This year, the Horsemen have reached the Champions League group stage again after defeating Shelbourne, Shkëndija and Ferencvaros in the qualifying rounds. They're coming to The Cathedral with a perfect League Phase record so far, having defeated Benfica 2-3 and Copenhagen 2-0 
 

Interesting facts:

• Their former home city, Aghdam, is currently a ghost town. Since Azerbaijan retook control of the region, the government has started a major project to repopulate the city.
   
•  One of only two founding sides to have never been relegated from the current Azerbaijan Premier League when it was created in 1992, along with Neftçi Baku.
   
• Qarabag almost went bust in the early 2000s but was rescued by Azersun Holdings in 2001, the catalyst for their revival and subsequent dominance of Azerbaijani football.
   
• The Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, where Qarabag plays some of their European matches, is named after the linesman who officiated the 1966 World Cup final between England and Germany and awarded England's Geoff Hurst a goal after his shot hit the crossbar and bounced on the goal line, becoming one of the most debated goals in football history.
   
• The horses seen in the club badge are based on the Karabakh horse.

 

Previous Meetings

This will be our first match against Qarabag. We have previously faced one other Azerbaijini side, Inter Baku, in a play-off during the 2015-16 Europa League.

 

How to Watch

Check out our global TV guide to make sure you don't miss the match. 

You can also follow the fixture, and keep up to date with everything Athletic related, through the official Athletic Club app, as well as on our website and social media accounts:

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