The New Saints – Sabah

The Azerbaijani champion will win the match against the Welsh again.

Baku's Sabah, in a sense, pulled off a sensation on the national stage last season. Karabakh was so busy performing on the main stage of the Champions League that it did not notice the capital city's team's surge toward the first-ever championship title. Karabakh's four-year dominance in Azerbaijani football ended with a nine-point gap behind its rival in the league table. Sabah's achievement looks especially significant compared to last season, when it finished fifth. The capital city's club qualified for European competition for the third consecutive time. In the season before last the team managed to crash out in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League against the modest Irish St Patrick's. Last season Sabah, as Azerbaijan Cup winner, began its European campaign in the Europa Conference League qualifiers. After being eliminated following a competitive struggle with the strong Celje, Sabah reached the third round, where it stumbled against the Bulgarian Levski. For the first time, a club from Baku will start its European campaign as the champion of its country in the Champions League, and the experience described from previous years will, without a doubt, be needed. The New Saints is a much more experienced European campaigner, but the decisive factor on the way for the Welsh side is rarely its experience. Year after year, the players' craft is enough to pass one or two qualifying rounds, followed by elimination. A true breakthrough for a Welsh multi-time European participant happened in the 2024/2025 season, when it managed to reach the group stage of the Europa Conference League. However, even then The New Saints managed to collect three points from eighteen possible in six rounds. The first leg of the round in Azerbaijan was won by Sabah's players. In the 66th minute they opened the scoring, and shortly before the final whistle they managed to extend the lead to 2:0. The second goal not only solidified Sabah's lead ahead of the return match, but also carried psychological weight. Now The New Saints must play in attack much more aggressively, which will not be effective due to the low quality of its players. Sabah will win again.