Sabah FK Reaches Champions League Phase After 6-4 Aggregate Playoff Victory

Sabah FK secured a spot in the Champions League league phase following a 5-2 victory in Romania that finalized a 6-4 aggregate win against Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

Sabah FK has qualified for the UEFA Champions League league phase following a 6-4 aggregate victory over Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the playoff round. The decisive second leg required a 94th-minute goal to force extra time, where the Azerbaijani side added two additional goals to secure their progression. This followed a 5-2 first-leg victory held in Bucharest, Romania. As a result of the draw, the debutants are scheduled to face opponents including 15-time winners Real Madrid, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, and last season’s finalists, Arsenal.

Founded on Sept. 8, 2017, the club nicknamed "The Owls" achieved this milestone just before their ninth anniversary. They enter the competition as the first Azerbaijani club to reach this stage since Qarabağ, who lost to Newcastle United in the knockout phase playoffs the previous year. Sabah secured their place by winning the Azerbaijan Premier League title and the Azerbaijan Cup, ending a period where Baku-based Qarabağ had claimed 11 of the last 12 domestic league trophies.

Unseeded Path to the League Phase

Sabah FK navigated four qualifying rounds as an unseeded team to reach the elite level. Their journey included victories over Welsh champions The New Saints, Finland's KuPS, and AGF Aarhus of Denmark before the final playoff against Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Only six other clubs in history, including Kairat (2025-26), Slovan Bratislava (2024-25), Sheriff (2021-22), Malmö (2021-22), Ferencvaros (2020-21), and Red Star Belgrade (2018-19, 2019-20), have successfully navigated four preliminary rounds to reach the group or league stages.

During the playoff leg in Bucharest, the team was supported by a single fan who traveled from Baku to set off pink flares outside the team hotel. This modest following reflects the club's rapid ascent from the Azerbaijan First League. In the 2017-18 season, Sabah finished fifth in the second tier but earned promotion to the top flight after the four teams above them—Khazar Baku, Qaradağ Lökbatan, Shuvalan, and MOIK Baku—failed to obtain the necessary licenses for elite competition.

Valdas Dambrauskas and the Millionaire Prize

Head coach Valdas Dambrauskas is the first Lithuanian manager to lead a team into the Champions League league phase. The 49-year-old’s professional trajectory was funded by a 2002 appearance on "Šeši nuliai - milijonas," the Lithuanian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Dambrauskas won 4,000 litas, approximately $1,300, which he utilized to relocate to London to pursue coaching badges. While in England, he worked as a childminder and newspaper delivery driver while managing Kingsbury London Tigers FC in the ninth tier of the English football pyramid.

Before joining Sabah in 2025, Dambrauskas achieved a domestic quadruple with FK Žalgiris, won the Bulgarian league with Ludogorets, and secured domestic cups with RFS in Latvia and Hajduk Split in Croatia. His playing career ended at age 23 after competing in the Lithuanian third tier.

Pink Identity and Regional Roots

Sabah FK is the first club in Champions League history to feature pink as a primary home kit color. Known as the Qara-çəhrayılar (Pink-Blacks), the team wears black shirts with pink accents and a pink and black badge. This color scheme, adopted in the 2023-24 season to replace their previous blue and white kits, is a tribute to Lake Masazir. The lake, located near the club's home in Masazir, is noted for its natural pink hue. The town is situated 20 miles northwest of Baku and less than 200 miles north of the Iranian border along the Caspian Sea coast.