Club who didn't exist nine years ago qualify for the Champions League in historic feat
A football club who were formed in 2017 have qualified for the Champions League's league phase after a stunning win on Tuesday night.
Azerbaijan's Sabah Baku did not exist nine years ago but they will play in Europe's premier club competition as the youngest ever club.
They took on Hapoel Be'er Sheva of Israel in the final qualifying round and lost the first leg 2-1 away from home.
The second leg of the play-off was 2-2 going into the dying embers, with Hapoel set to progress on aggregate.
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But in the very last kick of the game, Tellur Mutallimov popped up with a header for the hosts to make it 3-2 to Sabah and force extra time.
Sabah went on to score a further two goals to put themselves in Wednesday's Champions League draw alongside giants of the game like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Sabah's first season saw them finish fifth in the second tier of Azerbaijan football and they won their first league title this year.
The final teams in the Champions League will be decided on Wednesday, with Lyon and Fenerbahce locking horns in an exciting play-off.
Sabah will play eight games in the league phase, from September 8 2026 right through to January 27 2027.
Tymoteusz Puchacz, one of the team's top players, was reduced to tears after the incredible triumph.
Sabah had beaten Welsh side The New Saints, KuPS of Finland and Danish club AGF in the previous qualifying rounds before the play-off.
The play-off took place at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku as their home ground Bank Respublika Arena in Masazir does not meet UEFA requirements.
When is the Champions League draw?
36 clubs compete in this season's Champions League, with the draw taking place on Wednesday.
It will be live at 5pm BST time from Monaco and will be broadcasted across the Champions League's various social channels and website. In addition, TNT Sports 1 will also be showing the draw, which is set to feature a slew of football legends.
At the time of writing, 30 clubs have already qualified and are guaranteed to be in the draw.
A total of four games will take place after the draw is made, meaning the final line-up will not be known at the time.
The winner of Lyon and Fenerbahce will be in the hat, as will Viking or Dinamo Zagreb.
Under the format which has been in place for two previous seasons, eight teams will secure automatic qualification to the round of 16 and are seeded.
Those ranked in ninth to 24 go into the knockout phase play-offs and have an extra two fixtures.
This season's final will be played at the Estadio Metropolitano in Madrid.
Topics: Champions League
Josh Lawless