Zira FCAlthough Zira FC (Zirə FK) have never won the Azerbaijani league title, silver medals and cup finals have become their hallmark. The club finished second in the league in 2015–16, 2023–24 and 2024–25, and played in the Azerbaijan Cup final in 2022, 2024 and 2026. Each time they fell one step short of the trophy, but the consistency of results shows how quickly a young club built a stable position among the national leaders.
The club was founded on 28 July 2014 and represents the settlement of Zira on the Absheron Peninsula, within the borders of Baku. It was immediately entered in the First Division, and after its first season it won promotion to the Premyer Liqası, where it made its debut in 2015–16. The first manager was Bahram Shahguliyev. In that debut season the team finished second, yet it was not allowed to compete in the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, which remains one of the most unusual episodes in its history.
Since 17 July 2020 the team has been managed by Rashad Sadygov, a legend of Azerbaijani football, who took the club on a three-year contract and remains in the post. Under him Zira finished fourth in the league in 2020–21 and third in 2021–22, then won silver in each of the next two seasons. In 2024–25 the team won 23 of its 36 matches and collected 74 points, enough for second place. A year later, in 2025–26, it finished fifth in the league and again reached the cup final.
The club provided most excitement in European competition in the summer of 2024. In the first qualifying round of the Europa League the team met Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol. After a 1–0 win and a 2–1 defeat after extra time, the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate, and Sheriff won the penalty shoot-out 5–4. Elimination from the Europa League, however, opened the way to the Conference League. There Zira beat Slovakia's DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda 4–0 and 2–1, 6–1 on aggregate, in the second qualifying round, and then eliminated Croatia's Osijek, drawing 1–1 and 2–2. In the play-off round they were stopped by Omonia Nicosia, who won the tie 6–1 after a 6–0 win in the first match.
The team plays its home matches at the stadium of the Zira sports complex (Zirə İdman Kompleksinin stadionu). In the best seasons the goals were supplied by Davit Volkovi, a Georgian forward who was the team's top league scorer in 2020–2022, and Salifou Soumah, who scored 12 league goals in 2024–25. Qismət Alıyev, the club's top league scorer in 2023–24, also played a major role.
In the 2024 cup final Zira lost 2–1 to Qarabağ, who won their eighth Azerbaijan Cup that year. That match, played on 2 June 2024, sums up the club's character well: consistent, disciplined and still one step away from its greatest success. In a country where a narrow group of teams contest the titles, Zira Baku have built a reputation as a club that always counts in the fight for the top places. Its history, though short, shows that stable development and continuity of coaching work can be enough to establish a place at the top of the league and play in Europe within a single decade.
