Baku's Neftchi, Aghdam's Garabagh football teams advance to next qualifying round

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Neftchi PFC has advanced to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League after beating Cypriot Aris 3:0, Azernews reports.

Godsway Donyoh scored in the 38th minute. The next goal came from Eddy Israfilov in the 57th minute. The last goal was scored by Kenny Saief in the 62nd minute.

Neftichi's head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf congratulated the team's football players on a well-deserved victory.

The head coach noted that in the first game held in Cyprus, the Baku club lost with a score of 0:2.

At the press conference, Laurentiu Reghecampf spoke about the next match against Austrian's Rapid Wien.

He noted that the match with Austria is expected to be superior compared to the game with Cyprus. Laurentiu Reghecampf expressed his hope that Neftchi PFC will be better prepared for this game.

Neftchi PFC will face Austria's Rapid Wien in the UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round.

The first leg will be played at Bakcell Arena stadium in Baku on August 4, while the return match will take place a week later in Vienna, Austria.

Qarabag FC also drew 2:2 against Zurich, making their way to the Champions League third qualifying round. In the first leg in Baku, Qarabag beat Zurich 3:2.

The head coach of Qarabag FC, Gurban Gurbanov, commented on the draw in the return match of the 2nd qualifying round. He said that at the beginning there was a more tactical struggle, but then it turned into a real battle. Gurban Gurbanov also spoke about Kevin Medina's injury.

"Kevin Medina's injury looks serious. Tomorrow evening we will arrive in Baku, and then we will know the exact diagnosis. All other injuries were related to fatigue, nothing serious," said Gurbanov.

Meanwhile, Gabala-based FC Gabala was eliminated from UEFA Conference League.

The match against Hungarian Fehervar FC ended with the victory of Gabala FC (2:1). The goals for Gabala FC were scored by Rovlan Muradov (34th minute) and Felipe Santos (73rd minute).

However, as Fehervar won 4-1 in the first leg in Hungary, Gabala FC was eliminated from the UEFA Conference League.

The UEFA Champions League is UEFA's elite club competition with top clubs across the continent playing for the right to be crowned European champions.

Introduced in 1955 as the European Cup, it has expanded over the years with over 70 football clubs.

The number of teams each association enters into the UEFA Champions League is based on the UEFA coefficients of the member associations.

These scores are generated by the results of clubs representing each association during the previous five UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League seasons.

Qualifying starts in the summer with three rounds and then a play-off takes place before 32 teams begin the group stage starting in September.