Azerbaijan’s national football team kicks off its UEFA Nations League campaign on September 27 against Lithuania at the Darius and Girenas Stadium in Kaunas. Competing in League D Group 2, the visiting side enters the fixture under the direction of a Cypriot officiating crew.
FIFA referee Menelaos Antoniou leads the officiating team for the match. He is assisted on the sidelines by Pavlos Georgiu and Eraklis Komodromos, while Konstantinos Fellas serves as the fourth official. Video Assistant Referee (VAR) duties are managed by Marios Charistoforou alongside assistant Dimitris Solomou.
The match in Kaunas got underway at 17:00 Baku time. Early action saw the hosts take the lead in the ninth minute when Armandas Kucys successfully converted a penalty kick. However, Azerbaijan quickly responded. In the 14th minute, forward Mahir Emreli capitalized on a defensive error by the home goalkeeper to equalize and level the score at 1-1.
Following this opening fixture, the Azerbaijani national team will return home to host Liechtenstein in Baku on October 1 for its second match of the group stage.
