One-time Azerbaijan Cup winners Gabala SC will be our opponents on Thursday

Founded in 1995 under the name Goy Gol, the club's biggest success came in the 2018/2019 season when it won the Azerbaijan Cup. They have been in the top division for 16 consecutive years, finishing the 2021/2022 season in fourth place and reaching the semi-finals of the Cup. The same three teams finished ahead of them in both the league and cup, so they can start the ECL in fourth place in the cup. 

Gabala SC are one of only two teams to have qualified for the group stage of the Europa League from the first qualifying round of the Europa League two seasons in a row. In the 2015/2016 season, they eliminated Dinamo Tbilisi from the qualifying round with a 3-2 aggregate score and Cukaricki and Apollon Limassol with 2-1 scores, while in the play-offs they knocked out Panathinaikos by scoring more goals away from home. In the EL group stage, Gabala SC picked up two points, both in 0-0 draws against PAOK. The other two teams in the group - Borussia Dortmund and Krasnodar - saw them lose back-to-back to our Thursday opponents. 

A year later, Gabala SC began their European march in the first qualifying round of the EL again, defeating FC Samtredia 6-3, MTK 4-1 and LOSC Lille 2-1 on aggregate, before triumphing in the play-offs against NK Maribor 3-2 on aggregate. In the EL group stage, RSC Anderlecht, 1.FSV Mainz 05 and Saint-Étienne joined Gabala SC, with the Azeri side finishing last in their group with 0 points. 

Our Azerbaijani opponents have spent the last two weeks in Turkey at a training camp and are coming straight from Turkey. In the last few days Gabala SC have played two international friendly matches, losing 2-1 to Turkish top flight side Gaziantep and 2-1 to Romanian second division side Csíkszereda. 

Gabala SC's squad has an estimated value of €5.5 million and their most valuable player is 25-year-old Brazilian-German dual nationality defender Raphael Alemão, worth an estimated €550,000.