Newcomer in UEFA Champions League: Qarabag

On September 27, Italian football club Roma defeated Azerbaijan's Qarabag (2:1) in a match of the UEFA Champions League group stage. However, the result of this match was not so important. What's important is that for the first time in the history of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani football club played a home game within the UEFA Champions League. However, to be precise, it was not a home game. Team's home city is not Baku, but small town of Agdam. 

Spiegel wrote in an article "Ein Verein als Kriegsflüchtling" on the eve of the game, if someone visits Agdam today, he won't find a football club there. And there won't be many people. Instead, he will see ruins, destroyed houses, empty streets. Agdam is an abandoned city, a ghost town, and only Qarabag football club reminds people that Agdam once existed.

This city is located on Nagorno-Karabakh, occupied by Armenians. Officially, this is Azerbaijani territory, disputed by Armenians and Azerbaijanis. They fought for it for centuries. It became an arena for bloody war between Armenia and Azerbaijan since the early 1990s. 20 thousand people died during the conflict, maybe even 30 thousand, no one knows for sure. This is one of those conflicts that are covered by international media only during escalation. At one time over 50 thousand people lived in Agdam. Today there are only several hundred soldiers.

But the football club still exists. In 1988, 1990 and 1993 it celebrated even victories in home championships - the last time during the war that has already began. Sometimes matches were interrupted, since the city was under fire. Players had to travel, because it was impossible to continue their careers in Agdam. Eventually, the club began settled in Baku, where it became what it is now - exemplary club of Azerbaijan. 

In recent years Qarabag managed to achieve a lot, the club has been constantly moving forward. It was unable to qualify for the playoffs of the Europa League, losing to Borussia Dortmund in 2010, and to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2013. In 2014, the club made its way to the group stage for the first time, and Baku audience saw how players competed against such clubs as Saint-Étienne and Inter Milan. Now another milestone has been reached - Qatabag became the first Azerbaijani club that was able to play home game against Roma in the framework of the UEFA Champions League. Gurban Gurbanov's team was in the same group as Roma, Chelsea and Atletico Madrid. Being mentioned on par with these heavyweights of European football - it is hardly possible to achieve more for a football club from the Caucasus.

The club is financially supported by Azersun Holding, and therefore can afford to attract players from abroad. Spanish footballer Míchel came to Baku from Getafe, South African Dino Ndlovu - forward of the team, Richard Almeida de Oliveira - naturalized Azerbaijani football midfielder, who was born in Brazil. Wilde-Donald Guerrier, who made his way to Azerbaijan from Haiti through Poland and Turkey, plays together with them. Only Qarabag can afford this. Qarabag won three Azerbaijan Cups in a row. Agdam is something like Bayern Munich of Azerbaijan.

The fact that there's a club from the conflict region demonstrates that Karabakh region still belongs to Azerbaijan, even if it is occupied by Armenian separatists. Loyal fans of this club are, first of all, refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. This way they cat keep the memory of their homeland, at least a little. Homeland that turned into ruins.