Azerbaijan - Gurban Gurbanov

Now that the balls are out of the bowls in Durban we know that Wales have been drawn into a group with Germany, Russia, Finland, Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan. As a review of draw I intend to cover one of these teams every couple of days.

So it begins with Azerbaijan, a very familiar side to the Welsh having been part of our qualifying group for both the World Cup in 2006 and most notably were part of Wales' group for qualification for Euro 2004.

A lot of people will tell you how Mark Hughes led his Welsh team of Premier League stars to the brink of Euro 2004 by finally developing a system that the side could work under and achieve results. An excellent 2-0 win in Helsinki and a wonderful 2-1 win against Italy in Cardiff were gained early in qualification. But it was far more complex than that.

You may never have heard of him but without Gurban Gurbanov Wales may never have even made the playoffs. Gurbanov is Azerbaijan's leading goalscorer of all time. His 12 goals in 65 appearances eclipse all other achievements by Azeri players (including both of his brothers who have also turned out for the national team) but from those 12 goals there are 3 that had great importance for the Welsh side.

His two goals in Serbia helped secure the Azerbaijanis an unlikely point and another goal in Azerbaijan's incredible 2-1 victory in Baku over the Serbs helped push the Serbians into third place and Wales into the coveted runners-up spot. To put the result into context Azerbaijan lost 6-1 to Serbia at home this year.

Azerbaijan 2 - 1 Serbia - Euro 2004 qualifying


Gurbanov has recently retired so there'll be no helping hand from him this time around but they certainly aren't a pushover, especially for a side like Wales who love to make things difficult for themselves.

Borough United Football Club

The first Welsh club to get past the first round of a European tie weren't Cardiff City. They also weren't Swansea, or Wrexham, Newport County, Bangor City or Merthyr Tydfil. They were the little known club from North Wales, Borough United.

Despite being a Cardiff City supporter for about fifteen years, and spending much of my time reading about Welsh football and some of the odder aspects of the European game until this week I had never even heard of Borough United.

Borough United were formed by a merger of Llandudno Junction and Conwy Borough in 1954. Only fifteen years later (1969) they folded and were no more. Yet, in those fifteen years Borough United packed in a Welsh Cup win and a European Cup Winners Cup run. When you consider how few teams have played in European competition it is incredible that a Welsh club such as Borough United managed it, yet so few years later ceased to exist.

The 1962/63 season saw Borough United's finest cup triumph when they beat Newport County in a two-legged Welsh Cup final (after beating the likes of English club Hereford United, Rhyl and cup holders Bangor City). A 2-1 victory at home and a battling 0-0 draw at Somerton Park was enough to bring the cup up north. A summer of fundraising ensued in order to fund the club's European adventure.

The 1963/64 European Cup Winners Cup contained the likes of Manchester United, Atalanta, Barcelona and Celtic but the Welsh minnows were drawn against the Maltese Cup winners Sleima Wanderers. The first leg, played in Malta ended in a creditable 0-0 draw at the Maltese National Stadium. This meant all Borough United needed to do was beat the Maltese side in order to get through to the second round, and that's exactly what they did. In front of 17,000 Welshmen Borough United beat Sleima by 2 goals to 0. An incredible result for the European first timers.

The second round in those days was the last 16, Borough United were pitted against Slovan Bratislava (now Slovakia then from Czechoslovakia). The challenge was one step too far however and the Welsh side lost out 4-0 on aggregate. Far from the disgrace many would have expected. Especially when you consider that Sporting Lisbon beat Apoel Nicosia 18-1 (on aggregate) in the same round.

The full second round draw is here:

Borough United	v	Slovan Bratislava
Celtic	v	NK Dinamo Zagreb
FC Barcelona	v	Hamburger SV
Fenerbahce	v	Linfield
Motor Zwickau	v	MTK Budapest
Olympique Lyonnais	v	Olympiakos Pireus
Sporting CP Lisbon	v	Apoel Nicosia
Tottenham Hotspur	v	Manchester United

We salute you Borough United. Most may have forgotten you, but you will go down in history as the first Welsh club to get past the first round of a European tournament. Let's hope Rhyl and TNS can take inspiration from this and perform their own European miracle.