Qarabağ FK, Ağdam, Azerbaijan, and one of football’s most extraordinary stories of exile and survival are the focus of this episode of Why We Love This Club.
Founded in Ağdam in 1951, Qarabağ were forced from their home during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and played their final match at the old İmarət Stadium in 1993. Chris Horwedel traces how a club that lost its ground and its city continued playing, eventually becoming the dominant force in Azerbaijani football and a regular presence in European competition.
The episode explores Qarabağ’s identity as the “refugee club,” the rise of longtime manager Gurban Gurbanov, domestic dominance, and landmark European nights against clubs including Atlético Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Braga and Copenhagen.
It also examines the more complicated history surrounding the club’s connection to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, including displacement on both sides and the responsibilities that come with turning football into a symbol of national memory.
With plans underway for a rebuilt stadium in Ağdam, Qarabağ’s story remains unfinished: a club that carried the idea of home for more than three decades while waiting for the possibility of returning to it.