Sabah FK's rise to Azerbaijan championship and Champions League main stage outlined by Toni Cortes

Sabah FK has transformed from a young project into the champion of Azerbaijan and reached the main stage of European club football in just nine years, proving that competent management, clear methodology, and dedicated individuals can push the boundaries of what is possible, Report informs, citing an opinion article by renowned Spanish football coach, methodologist, and former player Toni Cortes.

Toni Cortes is the Technical Director of BCNwinMethod, who gained international recognition through years of work in Africa and the creation of his own player development system. In May 2026, he visited Baku to personally inspect the structure and operational organization of Sabah.

According to Cortes, the capital club wrote the most important chapter in its brief history by breaking into the main stage of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. On its path to this historic achievement, the team navigated a complex qualification process, including a play-off victory over Israel's Hapoel Be'er Sheva.

"This is an outstanding achievement for a club founded on September 8, 2017. In less than ten years, it has managed to establish itself among the notable forces of European football," the specialist noted.

Cortes emphasized that the 2025/2026 season will forever remain special in Sabah's history. The team became the champion of Azerbaijan for the first time and also won the National Cup, completing a historic "golden double."

In the Spanish specialist's view, these successes were the logical result of the club's consistent development. The next and even more significant step was overcoming four qualification rounds in European competitions to secure a ticket to the main stage of the Champions League.

Cortes assigned a special role in the team's achievements to head coach Valdas Dambrauskas. The Lithuanian specialist took charge of Sabah in 2025 and, in his very first season, led the team to the championship before guiding it into the main stage of Europe's premier club tournament for the first time.

Cortes also shared his impressions of his May visit to Baku.

"I had the opportunity to personally visit Sabah. I saw with my own eyes the high level of organization within the club, its well-thought-out structure, and especially the professional work of the coaching staff," he wrote.

The specialist congratulated Sabah's players, management, coaching staff, and fans on this historic result, emphasizing that behind every major sporting success lie countless hours of hard work, learning, and self-sacrifice.

Now, according to him, the team faces a new challenge-matches against Europe's strongest clubs. However, regardless of future results, Sabah has already achieved its primary goal and opened a new page in the club's history.

"A club founded in 2017. A project that grew step by step. The championship, the Azerbaijan Cup, and now the Champions League. This story proves once again: when football has a serious project, a clear methodology, competent management, and dedicated people, the boundaries of what is possible can lie much farther than we initially imagined," Toni Cortes concluded.