The 2015–16 season was

Gabala FK Gabala SC (, ), also spelled Qabala, is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Qabala, which have competed in the Azerbaijan Premier League since 2006. They will be set to play in Azerbaijan Premier League from 2025–26 season follo ...

's 11th season, and their 10th in the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

, the top-flight of Azerbaijani football. Domestically, Gabala finished 3rd in the Premier League for the third season in a row and reached the semifinals of the

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

where they were defeated by Neftchi Baku. In Europe Gabala reached the group stages of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

where they faced

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

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and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

before finishing bottom of the group.

Season review

In September 2015, Gabala announced a new one-year shirt sponsorship deal with QafqaZ Hotels and Resorts.

Transfers

The summer transfer window saw a lot of transfer movement from Gabala, with 14 players leaving the club and 9 players arriving. The most notable departures were the club's all-time leading goalscorer Victor Mendy returning to France,

Ruslan Fomin Ruslan Fomin (; born 2 March 1986) is a Ukrainian retired footballer who played as a forward. Career He was loaned to Metalist Kharkiv in 2007. Fomin was also a member of the Ukraine national under-21 football team, as well as a former member ...

moving to

FC Atyrau Football Club Atyrau () is a professional football club based in Atyrau, who last played in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 8,900-seat Munaishy Stadium, where they have played sin ...

in Kazakhstan, and Ekigho Ehiosun returning to parent club

Gençlerbirliği S.K. Gençlerbirliği Spor Kulübü (pronounced ), commonly known as Gençlerbirliği, is a Turkish sports club based in Ankara. Formed in 1923, Gençlerbirliği are nicknamed ''Ankara Rüzgârı'' (The Wind of Ankara) or simply ''Gençler'' (The Yo ...

Alexandru Benga,

Ruslan Abışov Ruslan Abishov (Azerbaijani language, Azerbaijani: Ruslan Ibrahim oğlu Abışov; born 10 October 1987) is an Azerbaijani people, Azerbaijani former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (football), defender. Car ...

, Adrian Ropotan, Pavol Farkaš and Mikhail Sivakow also left the clubs at the end of their contracts. Arif Dashdemirov, Magomed Mirzabekov, Asif Mammadov all joined from

Inter Baku PIK Shamakhi FK (, ) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Shamakhi, that currently competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League. The club has won the Premier League title twice. History Early years (1997–2004) The club has been func ...

permanently, whilst

Vojislav Stanković Vojislav Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Војислав Станковић; born 22 September 1987) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Teleoptik. He can operate as either a left-back or centre-back. Club career ...

also joined from Inter Baku on an 18-month loan deal. Andrey Popovich and Samir Zargarov also joined from other Azerbaijan Premier League clubs,

Sumgayit FK Sumqayıt FK (, ) is an Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani professional Association football, football club based in Sumgayit, Sumgait, that plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top tier of Football in Azerbaijan, football in the country. History The ...

and

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respectively.

Sergei Zenjov Sergei Zenjov (born 20 April 1989) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Meistriliiga club Flora and the Estonia national team. Besides Estonia, Zenjov has played in England, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Azerbaijan and K ...

moved from recently relegated

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

side

FC Torpedo Moscow Football Club Torpedo Moscow (, ''FK Torpedo Moskva''), known as Torpedo Moscow, is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. The club will return to the Russian Premier League in the 2025–26 season. Their colours are white and b ...

, Vitaliy Vernydub from

FC Zorya Luhansk FC Zorya Luhansk ( ) is a Ukrainian football team. Zorya Luhansk was based in the city of Luhansk, Ukraine. However, due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, the team currently plays its games at Slavutych-Arena in Zaporizhzhia. The modern club as a ...

, Oleksiy Antonov from

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, and George Florescu from

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

Transfers

Summer

In: Out:

Winter

In: Out:

Squad

Out on loan

Friendlies

Competitions

Azerbaijan Premier League

Results summary

Results

League table

Azerbaijan Cup

UEFA Europa League

Qualifying rounds

Group stage

Squad statistics

Appearances and goals

, - , colspan="14", ''Players away from Gabala on loan:'' , - , colspan="14", ''Players who appeared for Gabala no longer at the club:''

Goal scorers

Disciplinary record

Notes

*Qarabağ have played their home games at the

Tofiq Bahramov Stadium The Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. It is currently used mostly for football matches. It served as the home ground for the Azerbaijan national football team until they moved to the Baku Olympi ...

since 1993 due to the ongoing situation in

Quzanlı Quzanlı () is a village and the most populous municipality in the Aghdam District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 13,002. The municipality consists of the villages of Guzanly, Birinci Quzanlı, Birinji Guzanly, Eyvazlı, Agdam, Eyvazly, ...

. *Gabala played their second & third qualifying round home matches at the

Bakcell Arena Bakcell is Azerbaijan's first and largest private telecommunications company. With nearly 9,000 base stations, it covers 99.9% of Azerbaijan's population and 92.6% of the country's territory. Bakcell provides telecommunications services to over ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, instead of their regular stadium City Stadium,

Qabala Qabala () is a city and the administrative centre of the Qabala District of Azerbaijan. The municipality consists of the city of Gabala and the village of Küsnət, Qabala, Küsnat. Before the city was known as Kutkashen, but after the Republic o ...

, due to a punishment by UEFA. *Apollon Limassol play their home matches at

Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium The Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium () is a football stadium in Larnaca, Cyprus. It has a current seating capacity of 9230 and has been the home stadium of Anorthosis Famagusta since its completion in 1986. History The ground is the home of Anorth ...

Larnaca Larnaca, also spelled Larnaka, is a city on the southeast coast of Cyprus and the capital of the Larnaca District, district of the same name. With a district population of 155.000 in 2021, it is the third largest city in the country after Nicosi ...

, instead of their regular stadium

Tsirion Stadium The Tsirio Stadium () is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium in Limassol, Cyprus. The stadium holds 13,331 people and is mostly used for football matches. It was the home ground of the three biggest clubs in Limassol, which have now moved to t ...

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

. *Gabala played their home matches at

instead of their regular stadium, Gabala City Stadium,

. *The match between Gabala and Kapaz on 31 October 2015, was suspended in 29th minute due to server fog. The remainder of the game was played the next day, 1 November 2015, at 20:00.

References

External links

Gabala FC WebsiteGabala FC at UEFA.comGabala FC at Soccerway.comGabala FC at National Football Teams.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:2015-16 Gabala FC season Gabala SC seasons Azerbaijani football clubs 2015–16 season Gabala