When Liverpool face Qarabag in the Champions League on Wednesday, they will come up against one of European football's most enduring figures. Gurban Gurbanov has been in charge of the Azerbaijani club since 2008, a tenure that has drawn comparisons with Sir Alex Ferguson. In that time, while other clubs have changed managers with dizzying frequency, Qarabag have remained remarkably stable under his leadership.
Gurbanov's longevity is all the more striking given his modest start. He was appointed as a late replacement after predecessor Rasim Kara departed for Khazar Lankaran, and expectations were low. Maksim Medvedev, a former Qarabag player, recalled: 'He was a young coach, and local coaches didn't get a lot of credit those days. He started from scratch and wasn't supposed to survive in the job.' Yet Gurbanov won the cup in his first season and then beat Rosenborg in the Europa League, setting the stage for a remarkable era.
Success did not come overnight. Qarabag had to wait until 2014 for their first league title under Gurbanov, but they have since won the championship 10 times in 11 seasons. In Europe, they have become regulars in the group stages and reached the Champions League proper in 2017. This season, they sit 18th in the league phase with 10 points, ahead of major clubs such as Marseille, Bayer Leverkusen and PSV Eindhoven, and are on the verge of progressing to the playoff round. Wednesday's match will be their 204th European game, with Gurbanov at the helm for 190 of those.
The club's significance extends beyond football. Qarabag were originally based in Aghdam, a town in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that was destroyed during the war with Armenia. The town returned to Azerbaijani control in 2020 under the agreement that ended the conflict and is now being rebuilt. According to journalist Elsevar Mammadov, the late president Abdolbari Gozal was asked by Azerbaijan's president Heydar Aliyev to take over the club and save it, leading to investment from the Azersun Holding company.
Gurbanov's philosophy has always prioritised the collective over individual talent. Medvedev described him as strict but fair, saying: 'For Gurbanov, all the players are equal. He explains his demands to new arrivals, and only those who accept them can be part of the squad.' Kenan Mastaliyev, editor-in-chief of Record.az, added: 'Qarabag can afford to make expensive signings, but Gurbanov would never destroy the balance he has in the squad. For him, only the team matters.' His approach, based on possession and being proactive, has turned Qarabag into a force that even Liverpool must respect.
