Krasnodar v Qäbälä background

FC Krasnodar will look to make up for lost time when they take on UEFA Europa League group stage newcomers Qäbäla FK, who kicked off their campaign with an encouraging 0-0 draw against PAOK FC.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time. It is Krasnodar's maiden encounter with Azerbaijani opponents and Qäbäla's first game against a Russian team.

• Only four matches have been played between Azerbaijani and Russian clubs in UEFA competition, with the Russian sides having the better of them: W3 D1 L0 (W2 D0 L0 at home – W1 D1 L0 in Azerbaijan). The Azerbaijani team did not score in any of those fixtures.

Form guide
• Krasnodar have lost only once in eight European home games to date (W5 D2 L1) – VfL Wolfsburg left the Stadion Kuban with a 4-2 victory in last season's group stage.

• Qäbäla have yet to win in five European away trips (D2 L3), but the most recent two ended in draws. They have drawn four of their last six games in UEFA competition, prevailing in the other two – 1-0 against Apollon Limassol FC in the 2015/16 third qualifying round and 2-0 versus FK Čukarički in the second qualifying round.

• Krasnodar have now reached the UEFA Europa League group stage in both of their European campaigns, though they did not make it to the round of 32 last season.

• Qäbälä are making their UEFA group stage debut this term; this is only their second European campaign.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Qabala to Krasnodar is around 850km.

• Krasnodar's Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson can make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance in this game.

• Qäbäla's Ukrainian striker Olexiy Anotonov played for Krasnodar's local rivals FC Kuban Krasnodar from 2004 to 2007.

• Qäbäla's George Florescu (FC Torpedo Moskva, FC Alania Vladikavkaz, FC Dinamo Moskva), Magomed Mirzabekov (FC Torpedo Moskva, FC Torpedo-ZIL Moskva, FC Anji Makhachkala), Sergei Zenjov (FC Torpedo Moskva) and Vagif Javadov (FC Volga Nizhny-Novgorod) also have Russian league experience.

• Qäbälä and Rosenborg BK are the only clubs who have made it all the way from the first qualifying round to the group stage in this season's competition.

The coaches
• Oleg Kononov has coached Krasnodar since 2013 and led the club to an impressive third-place finish in Russia last season. This is his third group stage campaign – he made it this far with FC Karpaty Lviv in 2010/11 and with Krasnodar last year.

• Qäbälä's Ukrainian coach Roman Grygorchuk made his name in Latvia, where he won three domestic titles with FK Ventspils from 2006 to 2008. He took charge at Qäbälä in December 2014 after a four-year spell at FC Chornomorets Odesa.