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Laman Ismayilova

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French referee Benoit Bastien has been appointed to officiate the upcoming match between FC Qarabağ and Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Benoit Bastien will be assisted by his fellow countrymen, Hicham Zakrani and Aurélien Berthomieu. Jérémie Pignard will be the fourth official for the game, Azernews reports.

Eric Wattellier will be the video assistant referee (VAR), and Ichko Lozev will be the assistant VAR referee. The game is scheduled to take place at the Tofig Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku at 21:45 local time on March 7.

The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs.

It is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League and above the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Qarabağ FC was a founding member of the Azerbaijan Premier League in 1992. One season later, it won their first league championship, becoming the first non-Baku-based club to win the Premier League title.

In 2017, Qarabağ FC became the first Azerbaijani club to qualify for the group stages of the UEFA Champions League after beating Danish club Copenhagen and drawing in Group C alongside Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, and Roma.

FC Qarabağ has been participating in European competitions for 10 years, but it was only in December 2023 that they advanced to the Europa League playoffs for the first time.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @lmntypewriterrr

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