Early years (1997–2004) 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. 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. 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.
The Double and Tskhadadze years (2004–2014) 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. 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 – losing to
Lech Poznań away on penalties. In 2011, Inter Baku also managed to win the
CIS Cup after defeating
Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the final. In 2012, the club recorded an Azerbaijani record for the biggest win in a European competition by beating
Narva Trans 5–0 in
Estonia. 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. However, the team managed to clinch second spot in the league.
Downturn and financial difficulties of Inter Baku (2015–2017) 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. 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 medal 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.
Keşlə FK (2017–2022) On 28 October 2017, Inter Baku PIK officially changed its name to
Keşlə FK. The club also replaced its logo and jersey colors. In its first match, Keşlə lost 0–2 against
Kapaz. The next day, the team's manager
Zaur Svanadze was replaced by
Ramiz Mammadov. On 25 December 2017, Keşlə announced that Mammadov had become the club's Sporting Director, with
Yuriy Maksymov coming in as the club's new manager. On 17 July 2018, Maksymov was sacked, and
Mladen Milinković appointed the new manager on 25 July 2018. On 29 October 2018, Milinković was sacked as manager, with
Tarlan Ahmadov being appointed as his replacement on 30 October 2018. On 8 August 2020, Ahmadov left Keşlə. On 16 August 2020, Keşlə announced
Yunis Huseynov's appointment as the new manager. On 24 January 2021, Huseynov resigned;
Sanan Gurbanov was appointed the club's new manager on 25 January 2021.
Şamaxı FK (2022–present) On 6 April 2022, the
Azerbaijan Premier League approved the name change of Keşlə FK to Şamaxı FK.
Domestic history European history ==Stadium==