Qarabag’s Europa League Journey: Key stats from the first four rounds

Today, Qarabag will face Bodo Glimt in the fourth round of the UEFA Europa League group stage.

Idman.biz reviews the results of the first four rounds in the group stages of the European club competitions for Qarabag, who are competing in the Europa League this season.

So far, Qarabag have qualified for the group stage 10 times, achieving this consistently over the last decade. The Aghdam club has competed in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League once, the Europa League eight times, and the Conference League once.
In all 10 of these attempts, the group stage consisted of six matches, with the fourth game falling within the second round. This time, however, Qarabag will reach the "equator" of the group stage in Norway today.

Undefeated Streak
Qarabag managed to go through the first four rounds undefeated only once, earning a record 10 points in that period. This feat is tied to their appearance in the Conference League in the 2021/22 season. Scoring 8 goals and winning 3 matches, Qarabag achieved their best-ever results in these two categories.

Maximum - "7"
The highest number of points Qarabag have earned in the first four rounds of the Europa League is 7, which they have achieved twice—in the 2016/17 and 2022/23 seasons. In both of those seasons, the team lost just once and won twice. In the 2022/23 season, they even had a positive goal difference in the group stage—a unique occurrence for the four-match portion of the Europa League group stage. In that season’s opening four rounds, Qarabag conceded only 2 goals.

Near Record Low
Looking at other seasons, Qarabag have also earned 6 points once, 4 points three times, and 3 points once, with at least one win in each case. Only twice have they gone without a win in the first four rounds—once during their historic appearance in the Champions League, where they managed 2 draws. The absolute anti-record occurred in the 2020/21 season when Qarabag went winless and failed to secure any points in the first four rounds. After four years, they are now on the brink of repeating that disappointing result. To avoid that and achieve a better outcome, Qarabag must secure points in the upcoming match in Norway. Having conceded 3 unanswered goals to Tottenham and Ajax, and losing 1-2 to Malmö in the first three rounds, Qarabag cannot afford to lose to Bodo Glimt. To prevent a third winless streak, they must stop the Norwegian club, who have been undefeated in the new format of the Europa League group stage.

The match between Bodo Glimt and Qarabag will kick off at 21:45 Baku time.

Vugar Kheyrullayev
Idman.biz