Nine-Year-Old Sabah FC Qualifies for Champions League League Phase After Dramatic 6-4 Playoff Comeback

Sabah FC, a club that did not even exist a decade ago, is heading to the UEFA Champions League. In one of the most dramatic qualifying matches in recent memory, the Azerbaijani champions rescued their European dreams with a 94th-minute equalizer before dismantling Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva in extra time.[3]

The 5-2 victory on Tuesday night at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku secured a 6-4 aggregate win, sending the nine-year-old club into the tournament's revamped 36-team league phase.[1][4]

The stakes were immense. Trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Romania, Sabah needed to produce something special in front of 30,000 home supporters to keep their continental campaign alive.[3]

The match began disastrously for the hosts. Just ten minutes in, Hapoel's Igor Zlatanovic slotted home to extend the visitors' aggregate lead. Sabah responded through Christian Nwachukwu in the 38th minute, but a 61st-minute chip from Israeli national team right-back Guy Mizrahi restored Hapoel's two-goal cushion.[4]

With the clock ticking down and elimination looming, Sabah threw everything forward. Deep into stoppage time, substitute Tellur Mutallimov struck in the 94th minute, leveling the aggregate score at 4-4 and forcing extra time.[3]

That late blow shattered Hapoel Be'er Sheva. The Israeli side unraveled in the additional 30 minutes, losing both Djibril Diop and Eliel Peretz to second yellow cards as the pressure mounted.[4]

Sabah capitalized ruthlessly on the two-man advantage. Gabon striker Orphe Mbina headed the hosts in front in the 101st minute, and winger Joy-Lance Mickels hammered a shot off the crossbar and in at the 115th minute to seal the 6-4 aggregate triumph.[4]

"We've qualified for the main stage of the best tournament in the world," Sabah head coach Valdas Dambrauskas said amid the post-match celebrations. "Today, I'm the happiest head coach in the world."

The victory caps an extraordinary rise for a club founded in September 2017. Starting in the Azerbaijan First Division, Sabah quickly earned promotion and steadily built a modern, ambitious project in the city of Masazir.[2]

The breakthrough arrived in the 2025-26 season. Under Dambrauskas, Sabah captured their first Azerbaijan Premier League title—breaking Qarabağ's long-standing dominance—and completed a domestic double by winning the Azerbaijan Cup.[3]

That domestic success earned them a ticket to the Champions League qualifiers, but the path to the main draw is notoriously unforgiving. Sabah had to navigate four grueling knockout rounds just to reach the starting line.[3]

They started in the first qualifying round in July, eliminating Welsh champions The New Saints. They then dispatched Finland's KuPS and Danish side Aarhus before facing Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the decisive playoff.[2]

By surviving the gauntlet, Sabah becomes only the second Azerbaijani club in history—after Qarabağ—to reach the Champions League proper.[1]

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev publicly congratulated the team, calling their rapid ascent a "matter of special joy and pride" and a vivid indicator of the country's sporting progress.[1]

Sabah now enters the newly formatted Champions League "League Phase." Instead of the traditional four-team groups, all 36 qualifying clubs are ranked in a single league table.

Under the Swiss model, Sabah will play eight matches against eight different opponents—four at home and four away—between September and January, testing their squad depth against Europe's elite.[4]

The financial windfall from reaching this stage will be transformative for the young club, providing the resources to further upgrade their squad and facilities to maintain their domestic edge.

As they await Thursday's draw in Monaco, Sabah FC stands as proof that domestic momentum can translate to the ultimate European stage. For a team that was playing second-division football just eight years ago, the journey is only just beginning.[3][4]