Marked for Heitor
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 May 2027
Freddy Vargas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftchi can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Neftchi
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moustapha Seck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 May 2027
Home is on Heitor's mind
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Neftchi are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad3 May 2027
Murad Xaçayev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout3 May 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout3 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market3 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moustapha Seck signs something — a contract at Neftchi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch3 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Alessio Curci’s exile
4 goals in 15 games at Kapaz — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Neftchi updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market8 Feb 2027
Freddy Vargas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftchi can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Moustapha Seck falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Heitor out for 14 days
The medical room confirms 14 days on the sidelines for Heitor, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” José Ataupillco and Neftchi agree another 3 years.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Neftchi are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Ľubomír Tupta knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Neftchi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market8 Feb 2027
The Imad Faraj story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Imad Faraj signs something — a contract at Neftchi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
Freddy Vargas hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Neftchi can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market11 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Neftchi people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market11 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Denzel Jubitana has his answer from Neftchi; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Heitor wants to go home
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Neftchi know it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Heitor wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Neftchi now know that too.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A wage question at Neftchi
Falaye Sacko has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
15 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Heitor is slowing down
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Neftchi
Murad Xaçayev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
No place for Heitor in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Neftchi are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market12 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vincent Aboubakar’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Neftchi would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Emil Səfərov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Next up on the road: Khazar, position 8. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager plants his flag on Imad Faraj
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Imad Faraj’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.