Foreign Wind in the Final – A Look at History

The ending week was remarkable with the determination of the finalists in the Azerbaijan Cup.

Idman.biz reports that "Sabah", who qualified for the decisive match for the first time in its history, signed this success with Vasili Berezutski.

The Russian specialist has entered his name in the list of few legionnaire coaches who have made it to the final of the Azerbaijan Cup. Before that, this was not very common.

Two years later
The last foreigner to be a finalist of the Azerbaijan Cup was Laurentsiu Reghecampf. The Romanian appeared in front of "Neftchi" and "Gabala" two years ago. The defeat in that match led to the coach's resignation and the "black and whites" continued their titleless days.

Trailblazer
The first legionnaire to experience the final excitement was Anatoli Konkov. The Ukrainian reached the decisive match with "Inter" in the 2004/05 season. But the "bankers" lost the match against "Baku".

First and only
The first title of foreigners in the cup dates back to the 2009/10 season. Cuneyt Bicer, who was the acting head coach of "Baku", won the title with the "striped". He celebrated the victory over "Khazar Lankaran" in the final. Bicer is the first and only legionnaire to win the final with his Azerbaijani colleague.

Foreign final
Foreign experts have won the Azerbaijan Cup two more times. But in both cases, both finalists were foreigners. In the 2010/11 season, Mircea Rednic's "Khazar Lankaran" left Kakhaber Tskhadadze's "Inter" longing for the cup. Seven years later, in the final of the Ukrainians, Yuri Maksimov's "Keshla" was superior to Roman Grigorchuk's "Gabala".

Double failure
Two of the 12 foreign experts who experienced the final excitement have experienced this excitement again. Valentin Khodukin took "Inter" to the final in 2007/08 and 2008/09, and Roman Grigorchuk took "Gabala" to the final in 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons. But both final series consisted of two consecutive defeats.

13 finals, 3 cups
In general, legionnaire head coaches have seen 3 wins and 10 losses in 13 finals. Ukrainians have seen 1 win in 7 finals, and Romanians have seen 1 win in 2 finals. The decisive meeting brought joy to the Turk, and sadness to the representatives of Wales, Georgia and Russia.

Second Russian
Berezutski is the second Russian head coach to reach the final of the Azerbaijan Cup. Yuri Semin achieved this in the 2013/14 season. "Gabala", coached by the experienced specialist, could not cope with "Neftchi" in the final.

It should be noted that "Sabah" with Berezutski will face "Qarabagh" coached by Gurban Gurbanov in the final to be held on May 31.

Vugar Khayrullayev
Idman.biz