Qarabagh FC, European Football Academy sign agreement

Qarabagh FC has signed a cooperation agreement with the European Football Academy (EFA).

The signing ceremony was attended by Qarabagh FC General Director Emrah Çelikel, the director of administrative affairs of the club's football academy Murat Karaman as well as EFA founder-director Vusal Mustafayev and EFA General Manager usal Mustafayev, Azernews reports.

According to the contract, Qarabagh FC has the right to add outstanding and promising footballers to their teams within the EFA.

Talking about the prospects of cooperation, E. Çelikel said that this step shows the value given to Qarabagh FC. He expressed his belief that the agreement will give additional stimulus to EFA's activities and will play a positive role in attracting new players to the academy and their development.

"This is a chance for Azerbaijan football and Qarabagh FC in the sense of training new young footballers", he added.

V. Mustafayev said that signing a contract with Qarabagh FC is very important and proud for EFA:

"Thanks to this cooperation, our local football players will get a chance to play in big arenas. The selection of Qarabagh FC will grow and competition among young people will increase."

Formed in 1987, Qarabagh is an Azerbaijani professional football club, based in Baku, that competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top flight of Azerbaijani football. The club originates from Agdam, but has not played in its hometown since 1993 due to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The club is now based in Baku.

Qarabagh was a founding member of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992. One season later, it won their first league championship, becoming the first non-Baku-based club to win the Premier League title.

Qarabagh is one of the two teams in Azerbaijan, along with Neftchi PFK which has participated in all Premier League championships so far.

After beating the Netherlands club Twente in 2014, Qarabagh qualified for the 2014-2015 UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time in its history and became the second Azerbaijani team to reach the European competitions group stage.

In 2017, Qarabagh became the first Azerbaijani club to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after beating Danish club Copenhagen and drew in the Group C alongside Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Roma.