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Azerbaijan: Supreme League<br />
Gabala FK aiming<br />
for first title<br />
Emanuele Giulianelli is a<br />
freelance football correspondent<br />
based in Milan.<br />
Gabala FK are determined to<br />
break new ground on the<br />
tenth anniversary of their creation. After<br />
finishing third in the last two league campaigns,<br />
each time behind Qarabag and Inter<br />
Baku, the representatives of Azerbaijan’s<br />
oldest city have their sights set on winning<br />
their first national title.<br />
Yet with five matches played in the Azerbaijan<br />
Premier League, which is also known as<br />
the Supreme League, the clear frontrunners<br />
are Qarabag Agdam, who are forced to play<br />
their home games in the capital due to the<br />
long-running and bloody Nagorno-Karabakh<br />
conflict. The two-time defending champions<br />
top the table with 13 points from four wins<br />
and an away draw at Gabala on the opening<br />
day. That stalemate finished 2-2 after Estonian<br />
forward Sergei Zenjov had struck first<br />
for the hosts, who then fell behind to a<br />
double from the champions’ Brazilian<br />
midfielder Richard Almeida, now in his<br />
fourth season with the club. The home side<br />
then equalised three minutes from time<br />
through Samir Zargarov.<br />
Gabala share second spot with Inter Baku<br />
on ten points, both teams having lost only<br />
once so far this season.<br />
Qarabag and Gabala are also the only Azerbaijani<br />
clubs still in contention in a UEFA<br />
club competition. Gabala, competing in the<br />
Europa League for the second time, drew 0-0<br />
at home to Greek side PAOK Salonika in<br />
their opening group qualifier. Qarabag fell to<br />
a 3-1 defeat at Tottenham, despite playing<br />
well and demonstrating their intention to<br />
avoid being labelled the group’s weakest<br />
team. Qarabag still have a chance of emulating<br />
or even exceeding their excellent performance<br />
last season, when they came within a<br />
point of progressing past the group stage.<br />
Last crowned league winners in 2010, Inter<br />
Baku are the third title favourites in the<br />
Azeri championship, which is one of the<br />
least well attended in Europe with an average<br />
of around 1600 spectators per game.<br />
Three points separate the top trio, with<br />
fourth-placed Zira FK close behind on nine<br />
points. The Baku-based newcomers, who<br />
were founded only 13 months ago, are intent<br />
on bettering the surprising fifth place they<br />
achieved in their maiden season and are still<br />
unbeaten in the current league campaign,<br />
having already obtained a commendable 0-0<br />
draw at home to Inter Baku.<br />
Propping up the ten-team table with no<br />
points and no goals scored are another<br />
capital city side, AZAL, whose prospects of<br />
staying in the division will be boosted if<br />
they distinguish themselves in back-to-back<br />
away meetings against high-flyers Qarabag<br />
and Gabala in late October. Å<br />
ZUMA Press / imago<br />
On the European stage<br />
Sergei Zenjov (l.) in Europa<br />
League action for Gabala in<br />
their 0-0 draw with<br />
PAOK Salonika.<br />
THE FIFA WEEKLY<br />
17
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