Keşla FK

The club has been functioning since 1997, initially as an amateur side that shared its name with Khazar University, the first private university in Azerbaijan, which founded the club. In 1999, Khazar University began to play in the Azerbaijan Premier League, finishing eleventh.[2] In subsequent years, Inter finished in 7th place (2000/01 season) and 3rd place (2003–04 season).

In the 2003–04 season the team finished in fourth place, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Intertoto Cup for the first time. In the first round of the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup, they defeated Bregenz of Austria 3:0 on a forfeiture in the first leg, and 2:1 in the second leg.[3] In the second round, they played Tampere United of Finland, losing the first leg 0:3; winning the return leg, played in Baku, 1:0; but going out on aggregate 1:3.[4]

Logo of Inter Baku until 2017

In the summer of 2004, all rights of the Khazar University club were transferred to the newly created Inter Baku Professional Football Club, and the team participated in the 13th championship of the Azerbaijani Premier League under the name of Inter Baku. Later in 2004, certain structural changes were made in the club's management, and Inter Baku was renamed the Inter Professional Club, finishing the 2004–2005 season in seventh place. Inter's progression up the standings continued in the 14th iteration of the Azerbaijan Premier League when Inter finished in fourth place.

The club finished fourth again in 2006–07, and first in 2007–08. Following its championship season, Inter qualified for its first-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League in 2008 and advanced to the second qualifying round by defeating Rabotnički of the Republic of Macedonia on away goals.[5]

2009 saw Inter Baku retain the Azerbaijan Premier League title, securing it for the second time in the club's history. The club's Champions League campaign was less successful – barely losing to Lech Poznań away on penalties.[6] In 2011, Inter Baku also managed to win the CIS Cup after defeating Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the final.[7][8]

In 2012, the club recorded an Azerbaijani record for the biggest win in a European competition by beating Narva Trans 5–0 in Estonia.[9] The club had started the 2013–14 season with a three-game losing streak, setting a record for worst start to a season in its history.[10] However, the team managed to clinch second spot in the league.[11]

During the 2015–16 season, Inter started experiencing financial difficulties at the same time with its main sponsor, The International Bank of Azerbaijan. In December 2015, the club's president Georgi Nikolov was replaced by Rashad Gasimov. On 31 March 2016, Inter Baku were banned from participating in the next UEFA club competition that they would qualify for in the next three seasons, covering the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons.[12]

The situation continued during the 2016–17 season as Inter struggled to pay salaries to its players and make new transfers. Despite that, Inter was able to claim the bronze medals in the national championship and reach the semi-finals stage in the Cup. At the end of the season, IBA announced that it would no longer sponsor the club and this led to new changes in the administration. Zaur Akhundov, former director of the National Futzal Federation, was appointed as the head of the Supervisory Board and Ramish Maliyev became the new executive director of the club. Despite the rumors about the liquidation, Inter was able to find sponsorship for the 2017-18 season and play in the Europe League where it eliminated Serbian Mladost Lučani in the first qualifying round before getting eliminated by Fola Esch in the second round.

On 28 October 2017, Inter Baku PIK officially changed its name to Keshla FK.[13] The club also replaced its logo and jersey colors. In its first match, Keshla lost 0-2 against Kapaz. The next day, the team's manager Zaur Svanadze was replaced by Ramiz Mammadov.[14] On 25 December 2017, Keshla announced that Ramiz Mammadov had become the club's Sporting Director, with Yuriy Maksymov coming in as the club's new manager.[15] On 17 July 2018 Maksymov was sacked as manager,[16] with Mladen Milinković being appointed as the new manager on 25 July 2018.[17] On 29 October 2018 Milinković was sacked as manager,[18] with Tarlan Ahmadov being appointed as his replacement on 30 October 2018.[19] On 8 August 2020, Ahmadov left Keşla.[20]

On 16 August 2020, Keşla announced Yunis Huseynov being appointed as the new manager.[21] On 24 January 2021, Huseynov resigned as manager,[22] with Sanan Gurbanov being appointed as the clubs new manager on 25 January 2021.[23]

UEFA Champions League 2008–2009 Qualifying match in Skopje, Macedonia; FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia) – Inter Baku (Azerbaijan) 1–1

As of match played 27 August 2020

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R1	Bregenz	2–1	3–0	5–1
		R2	Tampere United	1–0	0–3	1–3
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Rabotnički	0–0	1–1	1–1(a)
		2Q	Partizan	1–1	0–2	1–3
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Spartak Trnava	1–2	1–3	2–5
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Lech Poznań	0–1	1–0	1–1 (8–9 p)
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Narva Trans	5–0	2–0	7–0
		2Q	Asteras Tripoli	1–1	1–1	2–2 (2–4 p)
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	IFK Mariehamn	1–1	2–0	3–1
		2Q	Tromsø	1–0	0–2	1–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Tiraspol	3–1	3–2	6–3
		2Q	IF Elfsborg	0–1	1–0	1–1 (3–4 p)
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Laçi	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		2Q	FH	2–2	2–1	4–3
		3Q	Athletic Bilbao	0–0	0–2	0–2
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Mladost Lučani	2–0	3–0	5–0
		2Q	Fola Esch	1–0	1–4	2–4
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Balzan	2–1	1–4	3–5
2020–21	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Laçi	0–0 (4–5 p)	N/A	N/A

As of 30 November 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  MDA Stanislav Namașco 2 DF  AZE Ilkin Qirtimov 3 DF  AZE Tarlan Guliyev 4 DF  AZE Shahriyar Aliyev 7 MF  AZE Rahman Hajiyev (loan from Neftchi Baku) 8 DF  AZE Tural Akhundov 9 MF  PAR César Meza Colli 11 FW  BRA Sílvio 13 MF  AZE Parviz Azadov 14 MF  AZE Turan Valizade (loan from Neftchi Baku) 17 MF  AZE Vusal Isgandarli 18 DF  AZE Ruslan Amirjanov 19 DF  AZE Azer Salahli

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  AZE Rail Malikov 21 DF  MNE Mijuško Bojović 22 MF  UZB Shohrux Gadoyev 25 MF  SLE John Kamara 27 GK  AZE Akpar Valiyev 42 FW  ANG Alexander Christovão 48 MF  UKR Dmytro Klyots 85 GK  AZE Kamal Bayramov 88 MF  AZE Seymur Asadov 90 MF  AZE Orkhan Farajov 97 FW  AZE Khazar Mahmudov 99 MF  AZE Rafael Maharramli (loan from Qarabağ)

For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2020.

Lists of the players with the most caps and top goalscorers for the club, as of 14 November 2014 (players in bold signify current Inter players).

Bachana Tskhadadze is the most goal scoring player of all time in the club's history.

Top Ten Highest Goalscorers

Player		Period	Appearances	Goals
1	Bachana Tskhadadze	2010–2015	117	47
2	Ģirts Karlsons	2009–12	73	36
3	Walter Guglielmone	2007–09	45	28
4	Khagani Mammadov	2007–09	35	22
5	Robertas Poškus	2009–11	52	17
6	Emin Imamaliev	2003–05	48	14
7	Uladzimir Makowski	2004–06	52	11
8	Volodimir Levin	2004–13	204	11
9	Petar Zlatinov	2008–13	97	10
10	Mikel Álvaro	2013–2015	30	9

Volodimir Levin is Inter's most capped player.

Top Ten Players With Most Appearances

Player		Period	Caps	Goals
1	Volodimir Levin	2004–13	204	11
2	Asif Mammadov	2008–10; 2011–2015	118	7
3	Bachana Tskhadadze	2010–2015	117	47
4	Giorgi Lomaia	2009–2016	108	0
5	Arif Dashdemirov	2010–2015	98	5
6	Petar Zlatinov	2008–13	97	10
7	Ilia Kandelaki	2010–13	75	3
8	Elmar Bakhshiev	2004–07	74	1
9	Ģirts Karlsons	2009–12	73	36
10	Bronislav Červenka	2007–12	72	5

• Azerbaijan League

Winners (2): 2007–08, 2009–10

• Azerbaijan Cup

Winners (1): 2017–18

• CIS Cup

Winners (1): 2011