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Umarali Rahmonaliyev scored a goal to send Sabah to the Champions League group stage with a big win

Umarali Rakhmonaliyev scored a goal to secure a comfortable win for Sabah and advance to the UEFA Champions League group stage.

The participation of Uzbek national team midfielder Umarali Rakhmonaliyev in the main round of the UEFA Champions League as part of the Azerbaijani club Sabah has been officially confirmed.

In the second leg of the qualifying play-off round, the Azerbaijani club defeated the Israeli team Apoel 5:2 in extra time.

Igor Zlatanovich gave Apoel the lead in the 10th minute of the match. Christian Nwachukwu equalized in the 38th minute. Guy Mizrahi scored the visitors' second goal in the 61st minute.

Rakhmonaliyev scored Sabah's second goal in the 74th minute, making the score 2:2. In the 90+4th minute, Tellur Mutallimov scored the third goal for the Azerbaijani team, leveling the score after two matches — 4:4.

Sabah scored two more goals in extra time. In the 101st minute, Orfe Mbina made it 4:2, and in the 115th minute, Joy-Lance Mikkels made it 5:2.

Two Apoel players — Jibril Diop in the 100th minute and Eliel Peretz in the 116th minute — were sent off.

Sabah lost 1:2 in the first match of the teams in Israel. Thus, the Azerbaijanis won 6:4 on aggregate and qualified for the main stage of the Champions League.

Sabah became the second Azerbaijani club to successfully qualify for the Champions League. Before that, Qarabag also participated in the main stage of the competition. The club participated in the group stage of the tournament in the 2017/18 season and in the league stage in the 2025/26 season.

In addition, Sabah became the fourth Azerbaijani club to reach the main stage of the European Cups. In addition to Qarabag, Neftchi and Gabala also participated in the Europa League earlier.

For information, the draw for the general group stage of the UEFA Champions League will be made on August 27.

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