| Clubname: | Sabah |
| Current: | 2023–24 Sabah FC season |
| Fullname: | Sabah Futbol Klubu |
| Nickname: | Bayquşlar (The Owls) Tələbələr (The Students) |
| Ground: | Bank Respublika Arena |
| Capacity: | 13,000 |
| Chrtitle: | President |
| Chairman: | Magsud Adigozalov |
| Manager: | Krunoslav Rendulić |
| League: | Azerbaijan Premier League |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Position: | 3rd of 10 |
| Website: | https://sabahfc.az |
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Sabah Football Club (Azerbaijani: Sabah Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Masazır. The team plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top tier of Azerbaijani football.
Sabah were formed on 8 September 2017, joining the Azerbaijan First Division for the 2017–18 season, in which they finished 5th. After the four teams above them in the league failed or declined promotion, Sabah were granted a license to participate in Azerbaijan Premier League on 12 May 2018.[1] Sabah's first game in the Azerbaijan Premier League was against Keşla on 12 August 2018, a game they won 1–0 thanks to a Marko Dević goal. Sabah went on to finish their first Premier League season in 7th position, avoiding relegation.
On 16 September 2019, Elshad Ahmadov resigned as manager, with Igor Ponomaryov taking over on an interim basis.
On 26 November 2019, Sabah announced that Željko Sopić had been appointed manager on an 18-month contract.[2] On 3 July 2020, Sopić resigned as manager.[3]
On 10 July 2020, Sabah signed 2 year contract with Vicente Gómez.[4] On 11 March 2021, Gómez left his role as Head Coach by mutual agreement, with Ramin Guliyev being placed in temporary charge.[5] At the end of the season, Guliyev was confirmed as the club's new Head Coach on a two-year contract[6] Guliyev resigned from his position on 21 October 2021,[7] with Murad Musayev being appointed as the club's new Head Coach on 30 October 2021, signing a two-year contract.[8]
On 1 February 2024, Sabah announced that Murad Musayev had left his role as Head Coach after his resignation had been accepted.[9]
On 5 March 2024, Sabah announced the appointment of Krunoslav Rendulić as their new Head Coach, on an 18-month contract.[10]
| Season | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Top goalscorer | Manager | Manufacturer | Sponsor | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div. | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Name | League | ||||||
| 2017–18 | 2nd | bgcolor=lightgreen | 5th | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 41 | 33 | 40 | Second round | Arif Asadov | Joma | |||
| 2018–19 | 1st | 7th | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 20 | 41 | 27 | Quarter-final | Marko Dević | 8 | Elshad Ahmadov | Macron | ||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 6th | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 27 | 21 | Quarter-final | Ulysse Diallo Amadou Diallo Hendrick Ekstein | 3 | Elshad Ahmadov Igor Ponomaryov Željko Sopić | Bank Respublika | ||
| 2020–21 | 1st | 5th | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 28 | 38 | 29 | Round of 16 | Ramil Sheydayev | 6 | Nike | |||
| 2021–22 | 1st | 5th | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 42 | 34 | 41 | Quarter-final | Joy-Lance Mickels | 11 | Ramin Guliyev Murad Musayev | |||
| 2022–23 | 1st | 2nd | 36 | 25 | 6 | 5 | 75 | 24 | 81 | Quarter-final | Joy-Lance Mickels | 17 | Murad Musayev | |||
| 2023–24 | 1st | 3rd | 36 | 17 | 7 | 12 | 50 | 40 | 58 | Quarter-final | Davit Volkovi Anatoliy Nuriyev | 6 | Murad Musayev Ruslan Qafitullin Krunoslav Rendulić | |||
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 10 |
| Total | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 10 |
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023–24 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2Q |  RFS | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| 3Q |  Partizan | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | ||
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | 2Q |  Maccabi Haifa | 3–6 | 3–0 | 6–6 |
| 3Q |  St Patrick's Athletic | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
Sabah's badge features rays of sunshine encased in a shield.
The team's main colours are black-pink, with their kit being made by Spanish clothing company Joma during their first season, and Macron from the start of the 2018–19 season.
See main article: Bank Respublika Arena. The club play their home games at the Bank Respublika Arena in Masazır, which has a capacity of 13,000.[11]
[12] For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2024.
See main article: FK Sabah-2. Sabah-2 plays in the Azerbaijan First Division from 2018.
| Position | Staff[13] [14] |
|---|---|
| Founder |  Yagub Huseynov |
| President | Magsud Adigozalov |
| Supervisory Board Member | Yagub Huseynov Firudin Gurbanov Igor Ponomaryov Rahman Hajiyev Rauf Khalilov |
| Chief executive officer | Ramin Hasanov |
| General Manager | Nasimi Musayev |
| Director of sport | Igor Ponomaryov |
| Press secretary | Elnur Hamidov |
| Position | Name[15] |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Krunoslav Rendulić |
| Assistant of head coach | Sasa Sabljak Ruslan Gafitullin Rashad Eyyubov |
| Goalkeeping coach | Vitali Kovalyov Elkhan Hasanli |
| Fitness coach | Domagoj Peric |
| Video analyst |  Oleksandr Panchuk  Nikita Vasyukhin |
| width=20px | width=200px | Name | width=250px | Years | width=100px | League | width=100px | Azerbaijan Cup | width=100px | European | width=100px | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amin Seydiyev | 2020–Present | |||||||||||
| 2 | Aleksey Isayev | 2020–2024 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Elvin Camalov | 2021–Present | |||||||||||
| 4 |  Bojan Letić | 2022–Present | |||||||||||
| 5 | Emmanuel Apeh | 2022–2024 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Yusif Imanov | 2020–Present | |||||||||||
| 7 |  Davit Volkovi | 2022–2024 | |||||||||||
| 7 |  Christian | 2022–2024 | |||||||||||
| 9 | Anatoliy Nuriyev | 2022–Present | |||||||||||
| 9 | Joy-Lance Mickels | 2021–2023, 2024–Present |
| width=20px | width=200px | Name | width=250px | Years | width=100px | League | width=100px | Azerbaijan Cup | width=100px | European | width=100px | Total | width=100px | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joy-Lance Mickels | 2021–2023, 2024–Present | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Davit Volkovi | 2022–Present | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Oleksiy Kashchuk | 2022–2023 | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Emmanuel Apeh | 2022–2024 | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Aleksey Isayev | 2020–2024 | |||||||||||||
| 6 | Anatoliy Nuriyev | 2022–Present | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Marko Dević | 2018–2019, 2020 | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Jesse Sekidika | 2023–Present | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Ramil Sheydayev | 2020–2021 | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Julio Rodríguez | 2020–2022 | |||||||||||||
| 9 | Bojan Letić | 2022–Present |
Information correct as of match played 25 July 2024. Only competitive matches are counted.
| Name | Nat. | From | To | Duration | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | %W | Honours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arif Asadov | 8 September 2017 | 1 July 2018 | (Promotion) | ||||||||||
| Elshad Ahmadov | 1 July 2018 | 16 September 2019 | |||||||||||
| 16 September 2019 | 26 November 2019 | ||||||||||||
| Željko Sopić | 26 November 2019 | 3 July 2020 | |||||||||||
| Vicente Gómez | 10 July 2020[16] | 11 March 2021[17] | |||||||||||
| 11 March 2021 | 26 May 2021 | ||||||||||||
| Ramin Guliyev | 26 May 2021 | 21 October 2021 | |||||||||||
| Ilkin Huseynov | 21 October 2021 | 30 October 2021 | |||||||||||
| Murad Musayev | 30 October 2021 | 1 February 2024 | |||||||||||
| Ruslan Qafitullin | 1 February 2024 | 5 March 2024 | |||||||||||
| Krunoslav Rendulić | 5 March 2024 |