2024-03-14 17:46:05
Today, Qarabag, which is about to play the return match of the 1/8 finals of the Europa League, is on the verge of writing a new story.
As reported by İdman.biz, Gurban Gurbanov’s team, which missed out on victory at the last moment in the meeting with the leader of the German Bundesliga Bayer in Baku, will play the decisive match in Leverkusen.
Being the first Azerbaijani club to reach the 1/8 finals of European competition, Qarabag has the opportunity to become our first representative in the top eight. To do this, it is necessary to interrupt Bayer’s unbeaten streak, which has not lost in the current season.
If the champion of Azerbaijan succeeds, he will be able to go down in European cup history.
174 cup
174 cups were won by teams in European competitions held from 1955 to the current season. We are talking about the Champions League, Cup Winners’ Cup, Europa League and Conference League tournaments. One of these competitions – the Cup Winners’ Cup – went down in history. The Conference League is being held for the third time.
Other format
At first glance, the number of places in the 1/4 finals in 174 tournaments should be 1392. However, before this season, in 1386 cases, a team qualified for the 1/4 finals. The same goes for the number of semi-finalists. This is because the format has changed in some years. Sometimes the 1/4 and sometimes the 1/2 finals were replaced by a group stage. Or the round was not held. This season, 8 teams made it to the quarter finals of the Champions League. The total number was 1394.
32 countries
So far, clubs from 32 countries have reached the quarterfinals. Three of these countries no longer exist. These are the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. If Qarabag writes history, Azerbaijan will become the 33rd country to reach the quarter finals. Interestingly, among these countries there are some that currently do not have strong clubs, such as Cyprus, Northern Ireland, Finland and Wales. To get into the list, Azerbaijan needs only one victory.
280 clubs
So far, 280 European clubs have reached the quarter-finals. If history is written in Leverkusen, Qarabag will become the 281st team in European competition history.
Germany entered this stage with a record number of teams – 30. 25 English clubs also reached the quarter-finals.
Number of representatives of countries that reached the 1/4 finals
1. Germany – 30
2. England – 25
3. Spain – 21
4. Italy – 17
5. Belgium – 15
6. France – 14
7-8. Yugoslavia – 13
Czechoslovakia – 13
9. The Netherlands – 10
10-14. Portugal – 9
Scotland – 9
Switzerland – 9
Denmark – 9
USSR – 9
15-17. Poland – 8
Austria – 8
Romania – 8
18. Hungary – 7
19-22. Sweden – 6
Greece – 6
Bulgaria – 6
Russia – 6
23-24. Turkey – 5
Norway – 5
25. Ukraine – 4
26-29. Wales – 3
Finland – 3
Czech Republic – 3
Croatia – 3
30-31. Northern Ireland – 2
Israel – 2
32. Cyprus – 1
Representatives of two countries
The total number of quarterfinalists by country is more than 280. This is not without reason. Some clubs advanced from the 1/8 finals as representatives of two countries. We are talking about the national teams of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Some clubs have come close to the semi-finals both in the united country and after independence.
Spanish record
Azerbaijan is on the verge of reaching the quarterfinals for the first time. But this tour was usual for European Cup giants. In this sense, the record belongs to Spain. The number of clubs from this country that participated in the quarter finals is almost 200. Germany is in second place, and England is in third.
1. Spain – 198
2. Germany – 193
3. England – 172
4. Italy – 161
5. France – 78
6. Portugal – 75
7. Netherlands – 71
8. Belgium – 57
9-10. Yugoslavia – 43
Scotland – 43
11-12. Czechoslovakia – 31
USSR – 31
13-14. Switzerland – 25
Hungary – 25
15. Austria – 24
16-19. Romania – 17
Greece – 17
Bulgaria – 17
Turkey – 17
20-22. Poland – 16
19-22. Sweden – 16
Russia – 16
23. Denmark – 12
24. Ukraine – 11
25. Czech Republic – 7
26-27. Norway – 5
Wales – 5
28-29. Finland – 3
Croatia – 3
30-31. Northern Ireland – 2
Israel – 2
32. Cyprus – 1
Vugar Khairullaev
İdman.biz