The second qualifying round of the 2026-2027 season in UEFA club tournaments is being played. Azerbaijan is competing with 4 representatives: "Sabah" in the Champions League, "Qarabağ" in the Europa League, and "Zirə" and "Neftçi" in the Conference League.
Medianews.az reports that in the Champions League, Sabah's opponent is KuPS (Finland). The team from Baku, who played the first match at home, won 1-0.
If they advance to the third round, Sabah will face either "Aarhus" (Denmark) or "Lex" (Poland).
If eliminated from the Europa League, Sabah will face either "Levski" (Bulgaria) or "Universitatya" (Craiova, Romania).
"Qarabağ" was drawn against SSCA (Bulgaria) in the Europa League. The team from Agdam played their first match in Baku, and the score remained goalless.
The possible opponent in the third round is either "Sheriff" (Moldova) or "Maccabi" (Tel Aviv, Israel).
If eliminated from the Conference League, Qarabağ will face either "Dynamo" (Ukraine) or PAOK (Greece).
"Zirə"'s opponent in the Conference League is "Paide" (Estonia), and "Neftçi"'s opponent is "Dynamo" (Minsk, Belarus). The first matches were unsuccessful for the Baku teams: "Zirə" lost away (0:1), "Neftçi" lost at home (2:4).
If they advance, "Zirə" will face either "Santa Coloma" (Andorra) or "Rapid" (Austria), and "Neftçi" will face either "Željezničar" (Serbia) or "Braga" (Portugal).
Each of the three tournaments consists of four qualifying rounds.
In the 36-team league stages, it is planned that the top 8 teams will advance to the round of 16, while teams placed 9th to 24th will advance to the round of 32.
Azerbaijan ranks 26th in UEFA's club ranking, which includes 55 members.
The ranking is based on coefficients earned over the last five seasons of club tournaments. A win in qualifying rounds is worth 1 point, a draw half a point; in subsequent rounds, a win is worth 2 points, a draw 1 point. Bonus points are also awarded from the league stage to the final.
The total points are divided by the number of clubs from the country that qualified for continental tournaments, and the coefficient is calculated with an accuracy of one-thousandth.
Azerbaijan has earned a coefficient of 1.875 this season.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az