Qabala

Qabala spent 2023/24 in the Azerbaijan Premier League and finished it in the First League, relegated after nearly two decades among the country's top sides. It did not stay down long: in April 2025 the club topped the First League table and went straight back up for 2025/26.

The club has changed address once before, more thoroughly. It was founded on 3 July 1995 as Göy-Göl, named for the town then called Khanlar, and became Gilan in 2005. Only after winning the First League in 2005/06 did the side move to Gabala and, the following year, take the name it plays under now.

Its best league finishes came back to back, second place in 2016/17 and 2017/18. He is not the club's record scorer, though — that mark belongs to Viktor Mendy, 33 goals in 127 appearances between 2011 and 2015. Appearances themselves belong to Urfan Abbasov, 305 games across two spells to 2024.

Tony Adams took charge for a single season in 2010/11; Yuri Syomin lasted a year longer from 2013, long enough to take Qabala to a domestic cup final and a bronze-medal finish. The cup itself came later — Qabala beat Sumqayit 1-0 in the 2018/19 final for its first major trophy, then beat them again for a second in 2022/23.