Azerbaijan v Bulgaria background
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Article summary
Having only met once – in a friendly game back in 2004 – Azerbaijan and Bulgaria will take each other on for real in their opening UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group H fixture.
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Article body
Azerbaijan kick off their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group H campaign with a first competitive encounter with Bulgaria, a side they met in a friendly ten years ago.
Match background
• The sides' only previous meeting was a 0-0 friendly draw in Baku on 17 November 2004. Home coach Carlos Alberto Torres handed debuts to Rauf Mekhtiev, Daniel Akhtyamov and Elmar Bakhshiev, but there were to be no goals against a Bulgarian side led by Hristo Stoichkov.
• Clubs from Azerbaijan and Bulgaria have met in four men's UEFA competition games, with clubs from Azerbaijan having the record W1 D1 L2 (W1 D1 L0 at home – W0 D0 L2 in Bulgaria). In the most recent encounters, PFC Levski Sofia eliminated Bakı FK from the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, winning 2-0 at home after a scoreless draw in Baku.
• The last meeting between sides from these nations at any level in UEFA competition was a 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifying round game, which Bulgaria won 4-1 in Sliven on 24 October 2012.
