Qabala FCQabala FC, whose name in Azerbaijani appears as Qəbələ İdman Klubu, began its 2015 European campaign in the UEFA Europa League's very first qualifying round and, remarkably, went all the way through to the group stage, where it lined up against Borussia Dortmund, PAOK and FC Krasnodar - one of only two clubs in that season's competition to complete the entire qualifying marathon. The club's roots, however, lie elsewhere: it was founded on 3 July 1995 under the name Goy Gol, based in the city of the same name, before being registered in Qabala in September 2005 and briefly renamed Gilan PFK after relocating there in the summer of 2006. The team has competed in the Azerbaijan Premier League since 2006, taking its present identity from the city and historic region it represents in the north of the country.
Gabala's rise up the domestic table gathered pace in the following decade, aided in May 2010 by the appointment of former Arsenal and England defender Tony Adams as head coach on a reported £1 million-a-year deal - though he resigned the following November for family reasons, having guided the side to a seventh-place finish. A more lasting transformation came under Russian coach Yuri Semin, appointed in May 2013, whose arrival coincided with the club's first appearance in European competition and a run to the 2013 Azerbaijan Cup final, lost on penalties to Neftçi Baku. Two years later, under Roman Hryhorchuk, Gabala became just the third Azerbaijani club after Qarabağ and Neftçi to reach the Europa League group stage, having eliminated Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi's replacement opponents along a qualifying route that began in the competition's opening round.
Domestically the club has finished as Premier League runners-up on three occasions and has twice lifted the Azerbaijan Cup, in 2019 and in 2023, when it also reached the second qualifying round of the newly created UEFA Europa Conference League. Financial and sporting setbacks eventually caught up with the club, which was relegated to the Azerbaijan First Division, only to win immediate promotion back in the 2024-25 season and return to the Premier League for 2025-26. Gabala plays its home matches at the Gabala City Stadium.
