Ghost cities FC

Documentaries

Qarabag FK is not only a refugee football club but also the most successful team in Azerbaijan. Located in Baku, they originally hail from the 'ghost' city of Aghdam, in the Nagorno Karabakh region of the South Caucasus. When a war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the late 1980s, Armenian forces seized Nagorno Karabakh - a disputed territory that both countries claim - and laid waste to Aghdam. After the second Nagorno Karabakh war, which Azerbaijan won, the government has begun to rebuild Aghdam at breakneck speed. But as one team returns, another has been forced out. Lernayin Artsakh FC was based in Stepanakert. As Azeri troops bore down on the city in September 2023, its players, officials and families fled for Armenia. James Montague travels to Nagorno Karabakh to visit the two refugee football clubs who once played in the same league but who have come to represent division and displacement in the region.