Gabala FK

The club was founded under the name of Goy Gol on 3 July 1995, based in Goy Gol. On 1 September 2005, Goy Gol was registered in Gabala by the Ministry of Justice, before the AFFA registered the team as professional on 5 September of the same year. In the summer of 2006, the team moved from Goygol to Qabala, before the club changed its name to Gilan FK. Later, the club changed its name to Qəbələ FK on August 31, 2007.[1][2]

On 10 May 2010, former Arsenal defender Tony Adams was appointed as new manager after signing a £1 million per year deal with the club.[3][4] In his first season in charge Gabala finished at 7th place in Azerbaijan Premier League.[5][6] In November 2011, Adams resigned from being Gabala's coach due to family problems.[7][8]

Despite the appointment of managers like Fatih Kavlak and Ramiz Mammadov, the club couldn't reach a satisfactory position in the league and was struggling in the middle of the table for many years.[9][10] On 29 May 2013, Yuri Semin was appointed as new manager after signing a £1 million per year deal with the club.[11][12] In the same year, the club qualified for European cups for the first time in their history but lost to Neftchi Baku on penalties in the final of the Azerbaijan Cup.[13][14]

In the 2015–16 season of the Europa League, they became the 3rd club from Azerbaijan to qualify for the group stage after Qarabag and Neftçi Baku. They eliminated Dinamo Tbilisi, Čukarički, Apollon Limassol and surprisingly Panathinaikos. They came 4th in their tough group of Borussia Dortmund, PAOK and FC Krasnodar. They got two points both from 0–0 draws against PAOK.

Following their defeat to Keşla in the 2017–18 Azerbaijan Cup Final, Roman Hryhorchuk left Gabala after his contract was not extended.[15] On 30 May 2018, Gabala announced that Sanan Gurbanov had been appointed as the club's new manager on a two-year contract.[16] On 31 August 2019, Gurbanov resigned as manager following Gabala's 4–0 defeat at home to Keşla.[17] On 2 September 2019, Elmar Bakhshiyev was appointed as Gabala's caretaker manager.[18] On 14 October, Azer Bagirov was appointed as the clubs manager until the end of the season.[19]

League and cup history

Season	League									Azerbaijan Cup	Top goalscorer		Managers
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
2005–06	2nd	1	30	22	6	2	72	14	72	Last 16	R.Ahmadov	18	Jabbarov
2006–07	1st	11	24	4	4	16	17	47	16	Last 16	Garaev	4	R.Mammadov
2007–08	1st	6	26	11	3	12	33	36	36	Semi-finals	Balamestny	8
2008–09	1st	10	26	9	6	11	28	21	33	Semi-finals	K.Karimov	6
2009–10	1st	6	42	15	14	14	42	48	56	1st round	Stolpa	7
2010–11	1st	7	32	13	12	7	31	18	51	Quarter-finals	Burton	9	Adams
2011–12	1st	5	32	15	7	10	43	32	52	Quarter-finals	Dodô, Kamanan	9	Adams / Kavlak
2012–13	1st	6	32	10	8	14	32	40	38	Quarter-finals	Mendy, Assis	6	Kavlak / R.Mammadov / Aragón
2013–14	1st	3	36	18	7	11	48	36	61	Runners-up	Subotić	12	Semin
2014–15	1st	3	32	15	9	8	46	35	54	Quarter-finals	J.Huseynov	11	Munteanu / Hryhorchuk
2015–16	1st	3	36	16	11	9	44	28	59	Semi-finals	Gai	10	Hryhorchuk
2016–17	1st	2	28	14	10	4	48	21	52	Runners-up	Ozobić	11
2017–18	1st	2	28	14	7	7	43	26	49	Runners-up	Dabo	13
2018–19	1st	4	28	9	9	10	31	33	36	Champions	Adeniyi	10	Gurbanov
2019–20	1st	8	20	5	4	11	25	35	19	Semi-finals	Volkovi	5	Gurbanov Bakhshiyev

European history

As of match played 1 August 2019

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Europa League	38	10	7	21	36	55
Total	38	10	7	21	36	55

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Široki Brijeg	0–2	0–3	0–5
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Dinamo Tbilisi	2–0	1–2	3–2
		2Q	Čukarički	2–0	0–1	2–1
		3Q	Apollon Limassol	1–0	1–1	2–1
		PO	Panathinaikos	0–0	2–2	2–2 (a)
		Group C	Borussia Dortmund	1–3	0–4	4th
			PAOK	0–0	0–0
			Krasnodar	0–3	1–2
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Samtredia	5–1	1–2	6–3
		2Q	MTK Budapest	2–0	2–1	4–1
		3Q	Lille	1–0	1–1	2–1
		PO	Maribor	3–1	0–1	3–2
		Group C	Anderlecht	1–3	1–3	4th
			Saint-Étienne	1–2	0–1
			Mainz 05	2–3	0–2
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Jagiellonia Białystok	1–1	2–0	3–1
		3Q	Panathinaikos	1–2	0–1	1–3
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Progrès Niederkorn	0–2	1–0	1–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Dinamo Tbilisi	0–2	0–3	0–5

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round
• Group: Group stage

Team photo for the 2010–2011 season.

The club's crest includes Caucasus Mountains with a black crescent and red eight-pointed star, similar to Azerbaijani flag. It also includes 2005 which signifies the club's formation year.

Shirt sponsors and kit manufacturers

Gabala's traditional kit is composed of red shirts, black shorts and red socks. The club's first kit manufacturer was Erreà, until a two-year deal was agreed with Joma in 2013.[20][21]

In August 2012, Gabala signed a one-year deal with the American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer Pepsi, which will replace Hyundai as the shirt sponsor from the 2013–14 season.[22]

In September 2015, Gabala signed a one-year deal with QafqaZ Hotels and Resorts.[23]

On 31 January 2020, Gabala announced that dairy brand Milla would be the clubs new title sponsor until the end of 2021.[24]

Years	Manufacturer	Sponsor
2009–2010	Adidas	Hyundai
2010–2011	Lotto
2011–2012	Erreà
2012–2013		Pepsi
2013–2015	Joma
2015 – 2020		Qafqaz Hotels
2020 – present		Milla Jale

Gabala City Stadium in 2011.

The club play their home matches at the Gabala City Stadium, an all-seater football stadium situated in Qabala.

As of 2007, predominantly due to UEFA requirements, the club proposed an extensive renovation of the stadium, which has since been in constant process of redevelopment.[25] AFL Architects were appointed to design a new 15,000 capacity stadium and training facility in December 2008 after winning a limited design competition. Accommodation within the stadium will include hotel and conferencing facilities, as well as retail and corporate hospitality space, and a dramatic viewing deck at the top of the entrance tower.[26] It is expected that the stadium was scheduled to open in 2014.[27]

Gabala has a large fanbase in relation to its comparative lack of success on the pitch. Gabala's fan base has fluctuated over the years with high crowds coinciding with the club's success in the Premier League so that the club now averages in the top four best home attendances in the country.[28]

Azerbaijani teams are limited to nine players without Azerbaijani citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player, several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country.

Current squad

As of 22 June 2020[29]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Anar Nazirov 3 DF Ivica Žunić 4 DF Sadig Guliyev 5 DF Rasim Ramaldanov 7 MF Roman Huseynov 8 MF Gismat Aliyev 9 MF Ehtiram Shahverdiyev 10 FW Clésio 11 MF Asif Mammadov 12 MF Abdelrafik Gérard 14 FW Ulvi Isgandarov

No. Position Player 17 MF Yaovi Akakpo 19 MF Rovlan Muradov 20 DF Faig Hajiyev 21 MF Fernań Ferreiroá 22 FW Rodrigo Gattas 28 DF Murad Musayev 32 FW Nicolas Rajsel 36 GK Mushvig Nadirov 74 DF Yusif Nabiyev 77 MF Merab Gigauri 94 GK Tarlan Ahmadli

• For recent transfers, see 2019–20 Gabala FC season and Transfers summer 2019, Transfers winter 2019–20.

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player MF Samir Gurbanov (at Viktoria Žižkov until 30 June 2021) FW James Adeniyi (at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona until 30 June 2020)

Information correct as of match played 7 March 2020. Only competitive matches are counted.

Name	Nat.	From	To	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	%W	Honours	Notes
Faig Jabbarov	Azerbaijan	2005	2006	30	22	6	2	0	0	073.33		[30]
Ramiz Mammadov	Azerbaijan	2006	May 2010	118	38	27	53	0	0	032.20		[31]
Tony Adams	England	May 12, 2010	Nov 16, 2011	44	17	15	12	45	35	038.64		[32]
Fatih Kavlak	Turkey	Nov 18, 2011	Sept 27, 2012	29	14	7	8	43	27	048.28		[31]
Ramiz Mammadov	Azerbaijan	Sept 24, 2012	April 2, 2013	21	8	6	7	23	22	038.10		[31]
Luis Aragon (Interim)	Spain	April 2013	May 2013	8	1	3	4	5	10	012.50		[33]
Yuri Semin	Russia	May 28, 2013	May 23, 2014	41	21	9	11	56	38	051.22		[34]
Dorinel Munteanu	Romania	Jun 16, 2014	Dec 8, 2014	18	6	5	7	20	26	033.33		[35]
Sanan Gurbanov (Interim)	Azerbaijan	8 December 2014	21 December 2014	3	1	2	0	4	3	033.33		[36]
Roman Hryhorchuk	Ukraine	21 December 2014	29 May 2018[15]	159	75	41	43	238	150	047.17		[37]
Sanan Gurbanov	Azerbaijan	30 May 2018[16]	31 August 2019[17]	40	14	9	17	37	52	035.00
Elmar Bakhshiyev	Azerbaijan	2 September 2019[18]		19	7	4	8	31	28	036.84

• Notes:

P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches GS – Goal scored GA – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won

Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).

Urfan Abbasov is Gabala's most capped player, with 220 appearances for the club. Players in bold signifies current Gabala player.

Top goalscorers

As of Match played 7 March 2020

Dodô scored 30 goals in 161 games during his 5-years with Gabala

	Name	Years	League	Azerbaijan Cup	Europe	Total
1	Victor Mendy	2011–2015	29 (112)	4 (13)	0 (2)	33 (127)
2	Dodô	2011–2016	23 (131)	3 (15)	4 (15)	30 (161)
3	Bagaliy Dabo	2016–2018	20 (43)	4 (6)	3 (13)	27 (62)
4	Filip Ozobić	2016–2018	16 (47)	6 (9)	3 (18)	25 (74)
5	Javid Huseynov	2014–2015, 2016–2019	16 (89)	2 (19)	3 (11)	21 (119)
6	Steeven Joseph-Monrose	2017– 2019	15 (47)	3 (9)	2 (6)	20 (62)
7	Danijel Subotić	2013–2014, 2017	15 (40)	4 (8)	0 (0)	19 (48)
8	Kanan Karimov	2008–2010	11 (46)	7 (?)	0 (0)	18 (45+)
8	Oleksiy Gai	2015–2016	14 (51)	4 (6)	0 (14)	18 (71)
10	Yannick Kamanan	2012–2014	16 (62)	1 (6)	0 (0)	17 (68)

Most appearances

Urfan Abbasov is Gabala's most capped player, playing 220 games during his eight years at the club.

As of Match played 7 March 2020

	Name	Years	League	Azerbaijan Cup	Europe	Total
1	Urfan Abbasov	2011–2019	177 (3)	28 (0)	15 (0)	220 (3)
2	Dmytro Bezotosnyi	2015–2019	117 (0)	17 (0)	32 (0)	166 (0)
3	Dodô	2011–2016	131 (23)	15 (3)	15 (4)	161 (30)
4	Asif Mammadov	2006–2007 & 2015–present	105 (10)	16+ (2+)	22 (0)	143+ (12)
5	Vojislav Stanković	2015–2019	92 (1)	21 (1)	29 (1)	142 (3)
6	Elvin Jamalov	2013–2019	111 (0)	18 (0)	12 (0)	141 (0)
7	Victor Mendy	2011–2015	112 (29)	13 (4)	2 (0)	127 (33)
8	Samir Zargarov	2006–2009,2015–2016	95 (10)	18 (4)	9 (0)	122 (14)
9	Javid Huseynov	2014–2015, 2016–2019	89 (16)	19 (2)	11 (3)	119 (21)
10	Rafael Santos	2014–2017	72 (1)	12 (0)	20 (0)	104 (1)

• Azerbaijan Cup
  • Winners (1): 2018–19

• Azerbaijan First Division
  • Winners (1): 2005–06

• Gabala Cup 2012

• Official website