As Manchester United were playing their first pre-season friendly of the season in Helsinki in July, Azerbaijani champions Sabah FK were preparing to play their fourth competitive Uefa Champions League qualifier of the season, just north of the Finnish capital.
United lost their friendly 1-0 to Wrexham on July 18. Ten days later, Sabah defeated Finnish champions KuPS 2-0, sealing a 3-0 aggregate win.
Sabah were expected to be eliminated in the qualifying stages, but they carried on winning, advancing through four rounds. Their reward is a trip to Old Trafford on Thursday, where Manchester United will play against an Azerbaijani team for the first time in their history.
For United, it’s a first Champions League game since 2023 – an unexpected absence for one of the biggest clubs in the world. First, they were relegated to the Europa League, losing the 2025 final. Then no European football at all last season.
Uefa, Europe's governing body, missed United and their huge popularity from their various club competitions. It was no surprise 80 per cent of the crowd in Gothenburg, Sweden, supported United over current champions of Europe Paris Saint-Germain during their friendly last month. But appeal alone isn’t enough. United need success on the pitch.
United, the first English club to play in the European Cup in the 1950s, also need the revenue that continental football brings – and on a regular basis.
Missing out on broadcast, commercial and ticket revenue meant United went from being one of the most profitable clubs in the world to a loss-making one. As their finances floundered amid poor recruitment, new decision-makers, led by Ineos, needed to cut costs and scale back their spending. United, once the biggest payers for talent, are now living within their means, which admittedly are still substantial.
Few are expecting United to win a third European Cup this season. Most are expecting them to qualify from the group stage along with 23 other teams – eight automatic, 16 who enter a play-off – from the 36 qualified clubs.
It will be a first for United under the new format – a fail-safe to protect the strongest clubs and to guarantee at least eight matches and increased revenue.
United are one of five English and five Spanish clubs in the competition and need a win on Thursday after a faltering start to the Premier League season in which they have won one, drawn one and lost one.
United have conceded twice in each of their three games, including in the final minute of added time at Everton on Sunday, a 2-2 draw after Michael Carrick’s side had led twice.
The opening game of the season saw the worst result, a 2-0 defeat at promoted Hull City, before they beat another promoted side, Ipswich Town, 5-2. Manchester City, who have won all three domestic games so far, are the next league visitors in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
A Thursday night fixture leaves United with 48 hours less to prepare for the derby than their opponents. This season is set to be significantly different from last term, when United played only 40 games. It will likely be closer to 60 this time around.
United needed a bigger squad, and brought in three midfielders to replace Casemiro and the injured Manuel Ugarte. Their most recent recruit – Carlos Baleba – is recovering from injury as he hopes to start his United career soon.
Carrick likes to stick with his strongest squad but knows it is important to rotate this season. There are likely to be changes against Sabah, who, like Grimsby Town a year ago, have little to lose. It’s a rare chance for fans to get tickets at a venue which is sold out for every game, a night under the lights, and a chance to hear what has become an unfamiliar sound: the Champions League anthem.
United were at a low point following a 15th-place league finish in the 2024/25 season and a defeat in the Europa League final. The club are slowly but surely rising again, with sensible recruitment and a clear plan to make the club great again.
Those who have watched United so far this season are likely to be a little more circumspect. Thursday brings a chance to boost confidence and start a huge competition on the right note.
For United's opponents, Sabah, it is a huge step. The club was only formed in 2017 and didn’t win a trophy until 2025, the Azerbaijani Cup, which was followed up by last season’s league-and-cup double.
Players from 16 countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria and Rwanda in Africa, to the Balkans and even Jamaica, Guadeloupe and Curacao in the Caribbean, represent Sabah.
They are managed by Valdas Dambrauskas, a 49-year-old Lithuanian who moved to London in 2002, aged 25, to study to be a coach. The move was funded by prize money from the Lithuanian version of TV programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which was equivalent to six months’ salary in Lithuania.
Dambrauskas volunteered as a coach and took several jobs to support his ambitions. He also coached with Man United’s Soccer Schools for five years after John Shiels, who headed United’s charitable foundation, gave him a chance. Dambrauskas said this week that he will be forever grateful to Shiels for the opportunity.
“I’ve been following him for years and watched his journey,” Shiels told The National. “What a story. From soccer schools to coach of an opposition team. Good habits and behaviours formed with the Soccer Schools in those days.”
Sabah is the 10th club of Dambrauskas’ career so far, and he has won 13 trophies across five countries.
Based in a town of 20,000 close to the capital, Baku, Sabah are the lowest-ranked team in the competition and will play Champions League football for the first time.
They progressed through four qualifying rounds against Welsh side TNS, Finland’s KuPS and Aarhus of Denmark, against whom they scored four goals in 30 minutes to turn the tie around in the second leg.
A more dramatic ending followed in the next play-off round against Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva. Hapoel won the first leg 2-1 at home in front of just 1,048 fans and were leading 4-2 on aggregate with 16 minutes to play in the second leg.
That 28,000 people were in attendance for the return game shows the interest for football in Azerbaijan, and they were delighted as a Sabah goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time sent the game into extra time, where they won 5-2 and 6-4 on aggregate.
They now get to take on United, plus other giants including Arsenal, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Villarreal and Napoli.
