Azerbaijan's most titled football club "Qarabag" will enter the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League season from the second qualifying round.

Offsideplus.az reports that the Aghdam club will face the Irish team "Shelburn".

We have collected more detailed information about the opponent.

Founded in 1895, "Shelburn" is one of the strongest clubs in Ireland. Although this team is the champion of Ireland 14 times, it has not been able to achieve serious success in the European Cups. The Dublin representative, who has never been able to advance to the group stage of continental competitions, has achieved the greatest success in the European Cups by competing in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League in the 2004/2005 season.

The team's squad is also not worth comparing with "Qarabag". The total value of "Shelburn", consisting mainly of Irish, Scottish and English footballers, is estimated at only 3 million euros on the famous transfer market website. This is 8 times cheaper than the squad of Qarabag, which costs 24 million euros.

Shelburne plays its home games at the 5,700-seat Tolka Park in Dublin. The team was appointed a new head coach in February of this year, that is, before the start of the season: 39-year-old Jay O'Brien. The Irish coach recently played for West Ham United.

By the way, the Irish Premier Division, in which 10 clubs compete, is held on a spring-autumn system and consists of 36 rounds. The last champion Shelburne is currently in 5th place after 25 rounds.

Shelburne defeated Northern Ireland's Linfield 3-2 in the first qualifying round of the Champions League.

In general, Qarabag's first and so far only test with Irish clubs was against Dundalk in the second qualifying round of the Champions League in 2019 - 3:0; 1:1.

Thus, Qarabag will start the European Cup in Ireland for the 22nd time in its history. The first match with Shelburne will be held on July 23 in Dublin, and the return match will be held on July 30 in Baku.