The “Qarabağ” – “Sabah” match (2:2), held as part of the first leg of the Azerbaijan Cup semi-final, was marked by a historic record.
“Elchi” reports, citing the Professional Football League, that 21,000 spectators watched the match held at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium.
This figure is an absolute record not only for the 2025/2026 season but also for the last 10 seasons for tournaments held under the PFL banner. The last time a higher attendance was recorded was in the 2015/2016 season, with 23,000 spectators at the Cup final between “Qarabağ” and “Neftçi”. In that match, “Qarabağ” secured a 1:0 victory.
This match has risen to 5th place in the overall list of tournaments organized by PFL since 2008. However, all other 4 matches in the higher ranks were Cup final encounters. This means that the “Qarabağ” – “Sabah” match has gone down in history as the Premier League match with the highest attendance among those directly hosted by a team. The previous record belonged to the “Kəpəz” – “Qarabağ” match, held in Ganja on February 14, 2016, which ended with “Qarabağ” winning 1:2 – with 20,400 spectators.
Overall, the last time a team’s home game attracted more spectators was 19 seasons ago – in the 2006/2007 season’s “Neftçi” – “Khazar Lankaran” match, when 25,000 people were recorded.
It should be noted that until this match, the current season’s record belonged to the championship match between the same teams, held on March 1, which ended 3:3. At that time, there were 10,361 spectators in the stadium. Thus, with today’s game, the season’s record has been broken by more than double.