Euro 2020 is probably the most special euro in history. Not only because of the one-year delay in the new crown pneumonia epidemic, but also for a reason, this European Championship was held in 13 cities in 12 countries, and for the first time, there was no host to directly qualify for the European Championship.
One of the cities hosting this European Cup is an Asian city in the natural geographical sense, which is Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Baku Olympic Stadium hosted three Group A group matches (Switzerland 1-1 Wales, Turkey 0-2 Wales, Turkey 1-3 Switzerland) and a quarter-final match in which Denmark eliminated the Czech Republic 2-1.
Prior to hosting Euro 2020, Baku hosted the 2018-2019 Europa League final. Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 to win the tournament's trophy.
Baku is an "Asian city" where azerbaijan is located is also a country that spans two continents. The geographically defining point between the two continents of Asia and Europe– the Greater Caucasus Mountains, which stretch across the northern part of Azerbaijan.
Today's football geography, we walked into Azerbaijan together and learned about the customs and customs of the country.
Azerbaijan – the land of fire at the turn of Asia and Europe
Azerbaijan is located in the southeast of the Greater Caucasus Mountains at the junction of Asia and Europe, bordering the Caspian Sea to the east, Iran to the south, Russia to the north, and Georgia and Armenia to the west. East of the Caspian Sea and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan across the "sea".
Azerbaijan covers an area of 86,600 square kilometers (including Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed area with Armenia) and has a population of 10,123,400 (as of December 2020). Of Azerbaijan's 86,600 square kilometers, except for a small part of the northeast border with Russia, which is located in Europe, most of the region is located in Asia, which is an Asian country in the sense of physical geography.
Historically, Azerbaijan was indeed an "Asian country" because it was once influenced by the representative of Asian civilization, the Persian civilization, and the main ethnic group of Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani ethnic group, was mainly distributed in two countries, Azerbaijan and Iran.
The Azerbaijani are the second largest ethnic group in Iran, and there are about 15 million Ethnic Azerbaijanis in Iran, accounting for 15% of the total population of Iran, which is more than the population of Azerbaijan. Iranian star Ali Dei, who won the Asian Footballer of the Year in 1999, is an Ethnic Azerbaijani.
The name of Azerbaijan is derived from the Persian language (Azerbaijani belongs to the Turkic language family), which means the country of fire.
In parts of the northern Iranian plateau near the Caucasus Mountains, natural gas leaked for natural reasons burns in flames, creating a flame similar to a mountain of flames. Therefore, the place name was named Azerbaijan Region.
The name of Azerbaijan is not only related to its natural environment, but also to the country's ancient religion Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism). Zoroastrianism originated in ancient Persia and was introduced to Azerbaijan in the 1st century BC. Zoroastrianism sees fire as a bond between man and God. In Zoroastrianism' view, fire purifies everything and sustains nature. Although the majority of the population of Azerbaijan today believes in Shia Islam, Zoroastrianism still has an important influence on the life of the country's citizens.
Fire temples, common in Azerbaijan, and the iconic Flame Tower in the capital Baku, are testimonies to the remains of Zoroastrianism in Azerbaijan.
Culturally into Europe
The formation of the Azerbaijani nation was in the 11th century. At that time, a group of Turks settled along the caspian plain in the southern Caucasus Mountains, and this westward turkic tribe converted to Islam, culturally embraced Persian culture, and formed a new ethnic group, the Azerbaijanis.
Although the Azerbaijani nation was formed, it did not escape the fate of being conquered. In 1502, the Azerbaijani nation was controlled by the Safavid dynasty of Persia.
In the 18th century, the Persian Safavid dynasty went into decline. In 1760, a coup d'état ended the rule of the Safavid Empire. But subsequent rulers were unable to stop the decline of the empire.
As the empire declined, Persian territory was in danger of being encroached upon by Russia and Britain. In particular, since its birth, Russia has faced the constraint of living deep inland, with a high coastline and perennial ice. Asking for access to the sea to the south became the dream of successive tsars.
Russia encroached on the territory of northern Persia by waging the Russo-Polish (Persian) War. Persia signed the Treaty of Gulistan (1813) and the Treaty of Turkmanchay (1825) with Tsarist Russia, forcing the northern part of the Azerbaijani region to Czarist Russia, and most of the southern part remained in Persia. The Azerbaijanis in the north became "Russian inhabitants".
Later, the October Revolution took place in Russia to establish Soviet power. Azerbaijan joined the Soviet Union as a member of it. In 1936, Persia changed its name to Iran. This led to two Azerbaijanis – Iranians and Azerbaijanis in the Soviet Union.
During the Soviet era, the Northern Azerbaijani Republic, located at the junction of Eurasia, had long been influenced by the Russian and Soviet cultures of the North, and although the Azerbaijanis in the Soviet Union retained the Azerbaijani language, most of them had adopted Russian culture. Traces of the Russian language can be found everywhere in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Both Russia and the Soviet Union were born in Europe, so European culture has taken root among Azerbaijanis (Azerbaijanis of the Republic of Azerbaijan, non-Iranian Azerbaijanis). This is not difficult to explain why Azerbaijan, after independence from the Soviet Union, made integration into Europe its goal.
Even though Azerbaijan's state spans two continents, And even though most of its territory is in Asia, many Azerbaijanis see themselves as European countries rather than Asian countries.
Status of football in Azerbaijan
Football is the epitome of national culture. After independence, Azerbaijan was influenced by Russian and Soviet culture and had long regarded integration into Europe as its goal.
After the establishment of the Azerbaijan Football Association, it also chose to join UEFA (1994) instead of the AFC and became a member of UEFA. Azerbaijani clubs also compete in European club competitions – the Champions League, the Europa League rather than the Asian AFC Champions League.
At the national team level, Azerbaijan participated in all the qualifiers from the 1998 Fifacé in France to this year's World Cup in Qatar, but not once did it advance from the group stage, and even a play-off ticket was a luxury.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar european qualifiers, Azerbaijan and Serbia, Portugal, Luxembourg, Ireland are in the same group. There is also a wild card team in this group , Qatar, the host of this World Cup. In this group, Azerbaijan was not only double-killed against Portugal and Serbia.
Even against Qatar, which joined the wild card, Azerbaijan only achieved 1 draw and 1 loss (March 2021, 1-2 Qatar; November, 2-2 Qatar). 8 rounds of matches 1 draw (against Qatar is not counted) 7 losses at the bottom of the ranking.
In the European Championship qualifiers, Azerbaijan also failed to qualify from the group stage. He repeatedly played the role of accompanying the prince to study.
As a result, Azerbaijan ranks very low in FIFA. In the most recent FIFA rankings, the Azerbaijani national team ranked 128th, and the FIFA ranking of the Chinese team in the same period was 78th. The FIFA ranking of the Azerbaijani national team is 50 places behind the Chinese team.
Even compared to the three Transcaucasian countries, Azerbaijan lags far behind Georgia (82) and its nemesis Armenia (92).
Baku Olympic Stadium – the first "Asian Stadium" to host the European Cup
Although Azerbaijan does not rank high in UEFA, Euro 2020 (postponed to 2021 due to the epidemic) made the Azerbaijani capital Baku the first Asian city to host a European Cup.
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, is located in the south of the Apshelen Peninsula on the west coast of the Caspian Sea. It has an area of about 2,192 square kilometers and a population of 2.26 million (as of January 2019). It is located on the southern side of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, so Baku is a physically and geographically Asian city.
Baku Olympic Stadium is a new football stadium with a retractable roof, completed in 2015. The stadium has a capacity of 68,700 spectators.
The design of the Baku Olympic Stadium features a new inflatable ETFE membrane structure and a full-color appearance. During the day, the translucent ETFE air pillow and the PTFE membrane of the roof can make the space in the field also have good light conditions. At night, colourful lights shine through the ETFE air pillow façade, allowing people to see this beautiful building from a distance.
The 2019 Europa League final was held here. In the end, Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-0 to win the trophy of the competition. But the biggest problem with this game is the pre-match controversy. Because at that time, Mkhitaryan in the Arsenal team did not follow Arsenal to the competition because of Aya (Armenian) political problems.
Despite the political turmoil with Armenia, Mkhitaryan was withdrawn. But it did not affect Baku's hosting of Euro 2020. UEFA has clearly learned its lesson, and if Armenia finally qualifies for Euro 2020, they will not be in Group A, where Baku is located.
In this European Championship, Azerbaijan did not qualify for the European Championship, and the Baku Olympic Stadium and the Rome Olympic Stadium co-hosted the Group A (Italy, Switzerland, Wales and Turkey) matches. Of all the teams in Group A of the European Championship, only Italy, led by Mancini, has not played in Baku.
In addition to the three group matches in Group A, Baku Olympic Stadium also hosted a quarter-final – Denmark vs Czech Republic.
In the end, the fairytale kingdom of Denmark defeated the Bohemian Iron Rider Czech Republic 2-1 at the stadium, creating its best record since 1992. The Baku Olympic Stadium also successfully completed the hosting task of Euro 2020. At this point, Baku became the first Asian city to host a European Championship event, and the Baku Olympic Stadium became the first Asian stadium to host a European Championship event.