Schrödinger's club

Given my fascination with international affairs and my interest in football in general, I'm always heartened when not minnows but super-minnows make a splash in the European pond.  FC Sheriff Tiraspol may object to such a description but their home stadium is located in a sliver of territory that officially belongs to another country.  Having been to the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldovan Republic (AKA Transdnistria or Transnistria), I can say that the ground is the most impressive part of this Ruritanian backwater; the club's team isn't too shabby either domestically for although Transdnistria and Moldova are locked in a frozen conflict, separated by Russian 'peacekeepers'(in reality Transdnistria's bodyguard, like those peacekeepers sent by Moscow operating inside Ukraine who act as janissaries for the separatists), FC Sheriff, as they are popularly known, do rather well in the Moldovan League, signing lesser-known Croatians and Brazilians to give them a technical edge over their rivals.  Last season they made it to the group stage of the Europa League and playing Tottenham Hotspur, I could not let the opportunity to see the club play in England pass (though I left my FC Sheriff scarf at home as I was situated among the Tottenham fans).  They lost 3-1 but they didn't rollover for Spurs.
This season, I noticed in a list of qualifiers for the Europa League another club affected by a frozen conflict, Karabagh (or officially Qarabağ Ağdam FK).  I took a great deal of interest in the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabagh - Karabagh for short - during my Master's degree and the bitter war that raged there, Armenia unofficially annexing 20% of Azerbaijan come the conclusion.  Sadly, this is not a tale of cross-border harmony - Karabagh are exiles, playing home games in Azerbaijan's national stadium in the capital Baku rather than the Karabagh 'capital' of Stepanakert.  After a difficult transition after the relocation, Karabagh have prospered, maybe to a degree more than if they had stayed in their mountainous fastness.  Certainly Arsenal FC in England have enjoyed considerable success since moving from Woolwich - south of the Thames - to Islington - north of the Thames, notwithstanding the mockery of their north London rivals Spurs.  However, not being based in a never-never country takes away some of the allure.  I might make the trip to White Hart Lane and try to buy one of those 'friendship' half-and-half scarves were Karabagh to progress and be drawn against Tottenham, but I certainly won't be making the long trip north should the side be in the same group as Hull City or Everton, whereas I might be torn if they really did hail from a place that really doesn't exist and for whom the president of Azerbaijan threatened to rekindle war if Armenia remained intransigent over the occupied territory (widely seen as a bargaining device to raise the international profile of the issue ahead of a meeting with Vladimir Putin and the Armenian president in Sochi last week).  It might be all academic depending on their fortunes in the play-off and the draw but my ardour has definitely cooled from the moment I first laid eyes on them in the list.