Azerbaijan vs Bulgaria

Tofiq Bahramov Stadium sets the stage for a low-profile friendly between European minnows Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

After another busted attempt to qualify for their first major tournament as an independent nation, Azerbaijan waved goodbye to long-serving manager Gianni De Biasi. A thumping 5-0 defeat to Belgium in their last Euro 2024 qualifier was the final straw to break the camel’s back, earning the Italian’s assistant Arif Asadov promotion to caretaker boss. His interim tenure has been off to a winning start, with Azerbaijan squeaking past Mongolia 1-0 in their only post-qualifying friendly. However, a much sterner test awaits Asadov’s troops as they take on a Bulgarian side they’ve gone winless against in all three previous H2Hs (D1, L2). Moreover, the Azeri drew a blank in two of those encounters, including a scoreless home draw in their only friendly meeting thus far.

On the other hand, back-to-back 2-2 draws against Group G pacesetters Hungary and Serbia down the final stretch of their underwhelming Euro 2024 qualifying campaign left Bulgaria nailed to the bottom of the section with a mere four points (D4, L4). But after the sacking of underperforming coach Mladen Krstajic, the Lions have shown signs of improvement under new boss Ilian Iliev, avoiding defeats against Serbia and Hungary before squeezing past Tanzania 1-0. The situation is far from ideal, yet beating the African minnows at least helped Bulgaria get in the win column for the first time since November 2022, halting a woeful run of 11 winless internationals (D4, L7).