Sabah FC (Azerbaijan)
| Full name | Sabah Futbol Klubu | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Bayquşlar (The Owls) Tələbələr (The Students) Qara-çəhrayılar (The Black-pinks) | ||
| Founded | 8 September 2017 | ||
| Ground | Bank Respublika Arena | ||
| Capacity | 13,000 | ||
| President | Magsud Adigozalov | ||
| Manager | Valdas Dambrauskas | ||
| League | Azerbaijan Premier League | ||
| 2024–25 | Azerbaijan Premier League, 5th of 10 | ||
| Website | sabahfc | ||
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Sabah Football Club (Azerbaijani: Sabah Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Masazır. The team plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top tier of Azerbaijani football.
History
Sabah were formed on 8 September 2017, joining the Azerbaijan First Division for the 2017–18 season, in which they finished 5th. After the four teams above them in the league failed or declined promotion, Sabah were granted a license to participate in Azerbaijan Premier League on 12 May 2018.[1] Sabah won their first game 1–0 in the Azerbaijan Premier League, against Keşla, on 12 August 2018, thanks to a Marko Dević goal. Sabah went on to finish their first Premier League season in 7th position, avoiding relegation.
On 16 September 2019, Elshad Ahmadov resigned as manager, with Igor Ponomaryov taking over on an interim basis.
On 26 November 2019, Sabah announced that Željko Sopić had been appointed manager on an 18-month contract.[2] On 3 July 2020, Sopić resigned as manager.[3]
On 10 July 2020, Sabah signed a two-year contract with Vicente Gómez.[4] On 11 March 2021, Gómez left his role as Head Coach by mutual agreement, with Ramin Guliyev being placed in temporary charge.[5] At the end of the season, Guliyev was confirmed as the club's new Head Coach on a two-year contract[6] Guliyev resigned from his position on 21 October 2021,[7] with Murad Musayev being appointed as the club's new Head Coach on 30 October 2021, signing a two-year contract.[8]
On 1 February 2024, Sabah announced that Murad Musayev had left his role as Head Coach after his resignation had been accepted.[9]
On 5 March 2024, Sabah announced the appointment of Krunoslav Rendulić as their new Head Coach, on an 18-month contract.[10] Rendulić left Sabah on 25 November 2024 by mutual agreement, with Vasili Berezutski being appointed as his replacement on the same day to a two-and-a-half year contract.[11][12] On 14 June 2025, Berezutski left the club by mutual consent due to personal reasons.[13]
Domestic history
| Season | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Top goalscorer | Manager | Manufacturer | Sponsor | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div. | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Name | League | |||||
| 2017–18 | 2nd | 5th | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 41 | 33 | 40 | Second round | Arif Asadov | Joma | |||
| 2018–19 | 1st | 7th | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 41 | 27 | Quarter-final | Marko Dević | 8 | Elshad Ahmadov | Macron | |
| 2019–20 | 1st | 6th | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 27 | 21 | Quarter-final | Ulysse Diallo Amadou Diallo Hendrick Ekstein |
3 | Elshad Ahmadov Igor Ponomaryov (interim) Željko Sopić |
Bank Respublika | |
| 2020–21 | 1st | 5th | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 28 | 38 | 29 | Round of 16 | Ramil Sheydayev | 6 | Vicente Gómez Ramin Guliyev (interim) |
Nike | |
| 2021–22 | 1st | 5th | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 42 | 34 | 41 | Quarter-final | Joy-Lance Mickels | 11 | Ramin Guliyev Murad Musayev | ||
| 2022–23 | 1st | 2nd | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 75 | 24 | 81 | Quarter-final | Joy-Lance Mickels | 17 | Murad Musayev | ||
| 2023–24 | 1st | 3rd | 36 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 50 | 40 | 58 | Quarter-final | Davit Volkovi Anatoliy Nuriyev |
6 | Murad Musayev Ruslan Qafitullin (interim) Krunoslav Rendulić | ||
| 2024–25 | 1st | 5th | 36 | 10 | 18 | 8 | 50 | 46 | 48 | Winners | Jesse Sekidika | 11 | Krunoslav Rendulić Vasili Berezutski | ||
European record
- As of match played 8 August 2024
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| UEFA Conference League | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 11 |
| Total | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 11 |
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2Q | RFS | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| 3Q | Partizan | 2–0 | 0–2 (a.e.t.) | 2–2 (4–5 p) | ||
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | 2Q | Maccabi Haifa | 3–6 (a.e.t.) | 3–0 | 6–6 (3–2 p) |
| 3Q | St Patrick's Athletic | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | ||
| 2025–26 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | Celje |
Colours and badge
Sabah's badge features rays of sunshine encased in a shield.
The team's main colours are black-pink, with their kit being made by Spanish clothing company Joma during their first season, and Macron from the start of the 2018–19 season.
Shirt sponsor and kit manufacturer
| Years | Manufacturer | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2017–2018 | Joma | none |
| 2018–2020 | Macron | Bank Respublika |
| 2020– | Nike |
Stadium
The club play their home games at the Bank Respublika Arena in Masazır, which has a capacity of 13,000.[14]
Players
Current squad
- As of 1 July 2025[15]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2025.
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
Reserve team
Sabah-2 plays in the Azerbaijan Reserve League.
Club officials
Management
| Position | Staff[16][17] |
|---|---|
| Founder | Yagub Huseynov |
| President | Magsud Adigozalov |
| Supervisory Board Member | Yagub Huseynov Firudin Gurbanov Igor Ponomaryov Rahman Hajiyev Rauf Khalilov |
| Chief executive officer | Ramin Hasanov |
| General Manager | Nasimi Musayev |
| Director of sport | Igor Ponomaryov |
| Press secretary | Elnur Hamidov |
Coaching staff
| Position | Name[18] |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Valdas Dambrauskas |
| Assistant of head coach | Valerio Zuddas Cristian Ceballos |
| Goalkeeping coach | Justinas Gasiūnas |
| Fitness coach | Domagoj Peric |
| Video analyst | Oleksandr Panchuk Nikita Vasyukhin |
Honours
- Azerbaijan Cup (1): 2024–25
Club records
Most appearances
- As of match played 31 May 2025
| Name | Years | League | Azerbaijan Cup | European | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amin Seydiyev | 2020–Present | 141 (4) | 11 (2) | 8 (0) | 160 (6) |
| 2 | Bojan Letić | 2022–Present | 104 (5) | 8 (0) | 8 (2) | 120 (7) |
| 3 | Elvin Camalov | 2021–2025 | 98 (2) | 9 (0) | 6 (0) | 113 (2) |
| 4 | Aleksey Isayev | 2020–2024 | 98 (11) | 6 (0) | 4 (1) | 108 (12) |
| 5 | Anatoliy Nuriyev | 2022–Present | 90 (11) | 10 (1) | 5 (0) | 105 (12) |
| 6 | Joy-Lance Mickels | 2021–2023, 2024–Present | 85 (38) | 12 (4) | 6 (2) | 103 (44) |
| 7 | Jon Irazabal | 2022–2025 | 85 (5) | 6 (1) | 8 (0) | 99 (6) |
| 8 | Yusif Imanov | 2020–Present | 80 (0) | 6 (0) | 8 (0) | 94 (0) |
| 8 | Tellur Mutallimov | 2022–Present | 80 (4) | 11 (1) | 3 (0) | 94 (5) |
| 10 | Namiq Ələsgərov | 2022–Present | 70 (7) | 5 (0) | 8 (0) | 83 (7) |
Top goalscorers
- As of match played 31 May 2025
| Name | Years | League | Azerbaijan Cup | European | Total | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joy-Lance Mickels | 2021–2023, 2024–Present | 38 (85) | 4 (12) | 2 (6) | 44 (103) | 0.43 |
| 2 | Jesse Sekidika | 2023–Present | 16 (67) | 3 (9) | 1 (4) | 20 (80) | 0.25 |
| 3 | Davit Volkovi | 2022–2024 | 16 (63) | 2 (4) | 1 (4) | 19 (71) | 0.27 |
| 4 | Oleksiy Kashchuk | 2022–2023 | 18 (39) | 0 (2) | 0 (0) | 18 (41) | 0.44 |
| 5 | Emmanuel Apeh | 2022–2024 | 11 (65) | 4 (6) | 1 (4) | 16 (75) | 0.21 |
| 6 | Pavol Šafranko | 2024–Present | 9 (34) | 2 (5) | 2 (4) | 13 (43) | 0.3 |
| 7 | Aleksey Isayev | 2020–2024 | 11 (98) | 0 (6) | 1 (4) | 12 (108) | 0.11 |
| 7 | Anatoliy Nuriyev | 2022–Present | 11 (90) | 1 (10) | 0 (5) | 12 (105) | 0.11 |
| 9 | Marko Dević | 2018–2019, 2020 | 9 (24) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 9 (24) | 0.38 |
| 10 | Namiq Ələsgərov | 2022–Present | 7 (70) | 0 (5) | 0 (8) | 7 (82) | 0.08 |
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 31 May 2025
| Name | Nat. | From | To | Duration | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | %W | Honours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arif Asadov | Azerbaijan | 8 September 2017 | 1 July 2018 | 296 days | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 41 | 36 | 39.29 | (Promotion) | |
| Elshad Ahmadov | Azerbaijan | 1 July 2018 | 16 September 2019 | 1 year, 77 days | 35 | 8 | 8 | 19 | 25 | 47 | 22.86 | ||
| Igor Ponomaryov (Interim) | Azerbaijan | 16 September 2019 | 26 November 2019[2] | 71 days | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 11 | 37.50 | ||
| Željko Sopić | Croatia | 26 November 2019[2] | 3 July 2020 | 230 days | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 27.27 | ||
| Vicente Gómez | Spain | 10 July 2020[19] | 11 March 2021[20] | 244 days | 20 | 4 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 29 | 20.00 | ||
| Ramin Guliyev (Interim) | Azerbaijan | 11 March 2021[20] | 26 May 2021[6] | 76 days | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 33.33 | ||
| Ramin Guliyev | Azerbaijan | 26 May 2021[6] | 21 October 2021[7] | 224 days | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 0.00 | ||
| Ilkin Huseynov (Interim) | Azerbaijan | 21 October 2021 | 30 October 2021 | 9 days | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 100.00 | ||
| Murad Musayev | Russia | 30 October 2021[8] | 1 February 2024[9] | 2 years, 94 days | 87 | 48 | 16 | 23 | 157 | 88 | 55.17 | ||
| Ruslan Qafitullin (Interim) | Azerbaijan | 1 February 2024[9] | 5 March 2024[10] | 33 days | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 11 | 50.00 | ||
| Krunoslav Rendulić | Croatia | 5 March 2024[10] | 25 November 2024[11] | 1 year, 123 days | 29 | 13 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 10 | 44.83 | ||
| Vasili Berezutski | Russia | 25 November 2024[12] | 14 June 2025[13] | 223 days | 28 | 10 | 13 | 5 | 39 | 32 | 35.71 | Azerbaijan Cup (1) |
- 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).
References
- ^ "SABAH HAQQINDA". sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ a b c ""SABAH" FK-DA YENİ BAŞ MƏŞQÇİ". sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. 26 November 2019. Archived from the original on 11 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ "SABAH FC PARTED WAYS WITH ZELJKO SOPIC". sabahfc.az/. Sabah FC. 3 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "SABAH FC OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE VICENTE GOMEZ AS NEW HEAD COACH". sabahfc.az/. Sabah FC. 10 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "VİSENTE QOMESLƏ YOLLAR AYRILDI". sabahfc.az (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ a b c "BAŞ MƏŞQÇİMİZ RAMİN QULİYEVLƏ YENİ MÜQAVİLƏ BAĞLADIQ". sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. 26 May 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
- ^ a b "RAMİN QULİYEVLƏ YOLLAR AYRILDI". sabahfc.az (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC (Azerbaijan). 21 October 2021. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
- ^ a b "MURAD MUSAYEV "SABAH"IN BAŞ MƏŞQÇİSİ TƏYİN EDİLDİ". sabahfc.az (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC (Azerbaijan). 30 October 2021. Archived from the original on 6 November 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
- ^ a b c "Komandamızın baş məşqçisi Murad Musayev və klub rəhbərliyi arasında görüş keçirilib". facebook.com/sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC Facebook. 1 February 2024. Archived from the original on 2 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
- ^ a b c ""Sabah"da yeni baş məşqçi təyinatı rəsmiləşib". facebook.com/sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC Facebook. 5 March 2024. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ a b ""Sabah" FK baş məşqçi Krunoslav Renduliçlə yollarını ayırıb". instagram.com/sabahfc/?hl=en (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC Instagram. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ a b "Xoş gəldin, Vasili Berezutski!". instagram.com/sabahfc/?hl=en (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC Instagram. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
- ^ a b Sabah FC. "Vasili Berezutski ilə əməkdaşlığın dayandırılması barədə". sabahfc.az. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
- ^ "ƏLİNCƏ ARENA". sabahfc.az (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. Archived from the original on 6 March 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ "Əsas komanda". Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
- ^ "DIRECTORY". sabahfc.az/. Sabah FC. Archived from the original on 9 July 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "SUPERVISORY BOARD". sabahfc.az/. Sabah FC. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "ƏSAS KOMANDA". sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
- ^ "YENİ BAŞ MƏŞQÇİMİZ – VİSENTE QOMES!". sabahfc.az/ (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. 10 July 2020. Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- ^ a b "VİSENTE QOMESLƏ YOLLAR AYRILDI". sabahfc.az (in Azerbaijani). Sabah FC. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 18 August 2021.