Gabala are drawn against Borussia Dortmund (Germany), PAOK (Greece) and Krasnodar (Russia) in Monaco. Let”s meet the opponents:

Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

Borussia Dortmund, commonly known as BVB, is a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club with more than 115,000 members, making BVB the third largest sports club by membership in Germany. Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team is also one of the most successful clubs in German football history.

Founded in 1909 by seventeen football players from Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships, three DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners” Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. Their Cup Winners” Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title.

Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at the Westfalenstadion Stadium that is the largest in Germany and Dortmund having the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world.

Borussia Dortmund”s colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname Die Schwarzgelben.

Dortmund hold a long-standing rivalry with Ruhrneighbours Schalke, known as the Revierderby, also have a rivalry with Bayern Munich. In terms of Deloitte's annual Football Money League, Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany and the eleventh biggest football team in the world.

PAOK F.C. (Greece)

PAOK, also known with its full name Panthessalonikios Athletic Club Constantinople, is a Greek association football club based in Thessaloniki Macedonia (Greece). It is one of the most popular Greek clubs with fans all over Greece and mostly in the region of Thessaloniki and Macedonia. They have played several times in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League competitions. PAOK is an ordinary member of the European Club Association.

The team currently plays in the top-flight Superleague Greece, which they have won twice. They play their home games at Toumba Stadium, with a capacity of 28.703 seats.

In 1927-28, PAOK took part in the A’ Thessaloniki League for the first time. In 1930-31 they qualified for their maiden participation in the Greek League. They made their debut on 1 February 1931 in Piraeus, losing 3-1 to Olympiacos. In 1928, they engaged in yet another dispute with AEK Thessaloniki, regarding the acquisition of land to build a stadium. AEK eventually got their way, as the land was not big enough for a football field.

PAOK won their first Thessaloniki League in 1937. In the following year, Nikos Sotiriadis became the first player of the Double-Headed Eagle to earn a cap with the Greece national team. On 28 May 1939 PAOK played their first Greek Cup final, losing 2-1 to AEK in Leoforos Alexandra. On their way to the final, the Thessaloniki outfit had eliminated Ellas Florina (6-1), Iraklis (3-2) and Ethnikos (4-0). In the final showdown, PAOK took the lead through Aristidis Ioannidis-Apostolou (39’), but AEK turned the tie around with goals by Chatzistavridis and Manetas to lift the trophy. PAOK’s starting line-up that day:Sotiriadis, Koukoulas, Kontopoulos, Kalogiannis, Vatikis, Panidis, Glaros, Bostantzoglou, Arvanitidis, Ioannidis-Apostolou, Kritas.

After World War II, PAOK regrouped and in 1951 they made it once more to the Greek Cup final, held again at Leoforos Alexandra. Their rivals on that occasion were Olympiacos, who went on to win 4-0. The starting eleven of PAOK that day: Lykaris, Patakas, Golemis, Arvanitis, Gogos, Psomas, Vassiliadis, Mouratidis, Tzinopoulos, Papadakis, Emmanouilidis.

In the late ‘70s football became professional in Greece and PAOK entered a new era. On 18 July 1979, a limited liability football company (Ltd) was founded by the name “Pan-Thessalonikan Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans” (Panthessalonikios Athlitikos Omilos Konstantinopoliton), entitled “PAOK FC”. The starting share-capital amounted to 37.100.000 drachmas and the unforgettable Giorgos Pantelakis became the first president.

PAOK”s high flights would continue during the “80s, with just a few seasons to forget. The team reached the Greek Cup final three more times, but didn’t win the trophy again before 2001. In 1981, they lost 3-1 to Olympiacos in Nea Filadelfia Stadium, in 1983 they were defeated 2-0 by AEK in the Olympic Stadium of Athens and, in 1985, in the same venue, they lost 4-1 to Larissa.
A major year in the history of PAOK would be 1985. The Double-Headed Eagle won their second league title (first professional one), led by Austrian head coach Walter Skocik.

Krasnodar (Russia)

FC Krasnodar is a Russian association football club from Krasnodar that plays in the Russian Premier League. In the beginning of 2008 FC Krasnodar successfully completed the licensing procedure, and on 22 February 2008 it was issued with a license granting the Club a right to participate in the competitions of the professional teams in the Russian Second Division. This day is considered the birthday of the Club. The originator of creation of the Football Club Krasnodar is a Russian businessman Sergey Nikolayevich Galitsky.

FC Krasnodar made its debut in the Russian Premier League in the season 2011/12 and immediately took the 9th place among 16 teams. The championship that followed was finished by the black-greens at the 10th position, although they obtained more points and scored more goals than after the two rounds of a previous tournament. In the season of 2013/14 FC Krasnodar, led by Oleg Kononov who became the Head Coach in the beginning of September 2013, ranked fifth in the top domestic league championship and received a right to make its debut in the UEFA Europa League. In addition, the black-greens managed to reach the final of the Russian Cup where they lost only in the penalty shootout.

The debut of FC Krasnodar in the European arena can be in general regarded as successful. In the qualifying rounds of UEFA Europa League the Bulls by turns beat JK Sillamäe Kalev from Estonia, Diósgyőri VTK from Hungary and quite eminent Real Sociedad from Spain. The black-greens were unable to qualify past the group stage, but the team fought with dignity against such famous European clubs as Everton F.C. from England, VfL Wolfsburg from Germany and LOSC Lille from France.

Following the results of the Season 2014/15 FC Krasnodar won its first medals of the Russian Football Championship, the bronze ones. It should be noted that the team obtained the same amount of points as silver medalist PFC CSKA did (60) conceding to the Armeitsy only by the number of the total games won. This result allowed the Bulls to play in the UEFA Europa League for the second year in a row.

Krasnodar BEST RESULTS:
2008 – 3rd position in the Russian Second Division, South zone
2010 – 5th position in the Russian First Division
2013/14 – Russian Cup finalist
2014 – 3rd position in the Group H of the UEFA Europa League
2014/15 – 3rd position in the Russian Premier League (bronze medals)