The territory of what is now Azerbaijan was first ruled by Caucasian Albania and later various Persian empires. Until the 19th century, it remained part of Qajar Iran, but the Russo-Persian wars of 1804–1813 and 1826–1828 forced the Qajar Empire to cede its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire; the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 defined the border between Russia and Iran. The region north of the Aras was part of Iran until it was conquered by Russia in the 19th century, where it was administered as part of the Caucasus Viceroyalty.
The Azerbaijan national football team has represented Azerbaijan in international association football since 1992, after the country declared independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to this, Azerbaijani players had represented the Soviet Union national football team. Azerbaijan played their first official international match on 17 September 1992 in a friendly against neighbouring country Georgia which ended in a 6–3 defeat for Azerbaijan. They are governed by the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) and compete as a member of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which encompasses the countries of Europe and Israel, after becoming members in 1994, also joining FIFA the same year. As of March 2019, Azerbaijan have played 242 international matches since their debut, winning 47, drawing 66 and losing 129. Azerbaijan have played Moldova and Uzbekistan most frequently, meeting each side ten times. In global and continental competitions, Azerbaijan have competed in qualification groups for both the FIFA World Cup, since 1994, and the UEFA European Championship, since 1996, but have failed to qualify for any tournament finals.
DefenderRashad Sadygov is Azerbaijan's most capped player of all time and is the only player to have accumulated 100 caps for the national team. As of March 2019, Sadygov has played 110 times for the country having made his debut in 2001, against Sweden, and received his last cap in 2017. Gurban Gurbanov, who accumulated 66 caps during his international career, is the country's highest scorer of all time with 12 goals and is the only player to have scored ten or more goals for Azerbaijan as of March 2019. (Full article...)
... that the blue stripe in the Azerbaijani flag reflects the country's Turkic heritage?
... that the 14th- and 15th-century Azerbaijani poet Imadaddin Nasimi was possibly flayed alive after he was accused of being a kafir by Sunni scholars?
Image 19Mammad Amin Rasulzade, a founder and spokesperson of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, was widely regarded as Azerbaijan's national leader. (from History of Azerbaijan)
Image 20Azerbaijan map of Köppen climate classification zones (from Geography of Azerbaijan)
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