Azerbaijan's first appearance at the big level came during the 2010 UEFA Futsal Championship. They were unbeaten in qualifying and finished second to Portugal in their group, and only then after conceding a late equalizer against the 2007 semi-finalists. Alesio has put together a potent blend of naturalized South Americans and local talent like Vitaliy Borisov and the Brazilian coach and much of the Azerbaijan squad are involved with champion club Araz Naxçivan, who in November won through to this spring's four-team UEFA Futsal Cup finals. Despite finishing in fourth place, Azerbaijan's finals run was the best showing by a debutant since the inaugural UEFA Futsal Championship tournament. Azerbaijan's Biro Jade won the Golden Boot award as joint top scorer with five goals.