Meet Our Opponent: The “Champion Killers”

Our team will face CSKA Sofia in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. The Bulgarian side is the most successful club in the country's football history.

Founded in 1948, the Army Club plays its home matches at Balgarska Armia Stadium in Sofia. Throughout its 78-year history, CSKA has won the Bulgarian championship 31 times and lifted the Bulgarian Cup 22 times, both national records. The club has also claimed four Bulgarian Super Cups.

CSKA is also Bulgaria's most successful representative in European competitions, having reached the semifinals of major continental tournaments on three occasions.

Two of those achievements came in the European Cup, now known as the UEFA Champions League. In the 1966/67 season, both semifinal matches against Inter ended 1–1, forcing a playoff, where the Italian side secured a narrow victory to reach the final.

In the 1981/82 European Cup semifinals, CSKA stunned Bayern Munich by scoring three goals in the opening 18 minutes of the first leg at home. Although they were unable to maintain their early dominance, they still celebrated a 4–3 victory. Bayern, however, overturned the tie with a convincing win in Munich to advance to the final. Seven years later, CSKA reached the semifinals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, where they lost both matches to Johan Cruyff's Barcelona. Those encounters proved to be a turning point in the career of club legend Hristo Stoichkov, who earned a move to the Catalan giants and went on to become one of world football's biggest stars.

In Bulgaria, CSKA is often referred to as the "champion killer." The club has defeated reigning European champions on several occasions, overcoming Ajax in 1974, Nottingham Forest in 1981, and Liverpool in both 1982 and 2005. CSKA has also reached the European Cup quarterfinals four times, narrowly missing out on further semifinal appearances.

However, most of the club's greatest achievements now belong to the past. Following several name changes, changes in ownership and management, and multiple restructurings, CSKA even dropped to the second division before returning to the top flight ten years ago. Their most recent Bulgarian league title came in the 2007/08 season.

Despite an 18-year wait for another championship, CSKA managed to win the Bulgarian Cup while competing in the second division during the 2015/16 season. The club repeated the feat in 2020/21 and lifted the trophy once again just two months ago, securing qualification for the UEFA Europa League. In the league, however, they finished only fourth.

While CSKA enjoyed memorable European campaigns in the past, in recent years the club has reached the group stage only twice—qualifying for the UEFA Europa League in the 2020/21 season and the UEFA Europa Conference League the following year. Since then, significant European success has eluded the Bulgarian side.

CSKA began the current Europa League campaign by narrowly overcoming Derry City in the first qualifying round. Although they won both matches, each victory came by a single-goal margin—2–1 and 3–2.

The first leg between Qarabağ and CSKA Sofia will be played in Baku on July 23, with the return leg taking place in Sofia on July 30.