Marked for Herti Bashari
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Nov 2028
No end in sight to Sporting Baku's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sporting Baku has to find a result from somewhere.
Market27 Nov 2028
Herti Bashari 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 Sporting Baku can pretend not to have heard.
Match25 Nov 2028
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match25 Nov 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Sporting Baku training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyyam Hüseynov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
Wages swallow 426% of the Sporting Baku income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Jefferson reaches 25 shut-outs
25 games in 89 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Oct 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sporting Baku, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Fərid Yusifli 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.
Match28 Oct 2028
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Sporting Baku can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Sporting Baku training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyyam Hüseynov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Wages eat 422% of everything Sporting Baku earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Marked 7.30. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ricardo Santana, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jack Young chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Sep 2028
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Shimal will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusif Nəbiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting Baku this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Sep 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Emmanuel Obuobi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sporting Baku.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sporting Baku had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Jack Young could afford to be generous.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Yusif Nəbiyev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Yusif Nəbiyev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Sporting Baku will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Jonas Moreira out for 74 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sporting Baku will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
Orkhan Guseynov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sporting Baku can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market7 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jefferson commits to Sporting Baku for another 3 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Yusif Nəbiyev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
$461.0K from the owner keeps Sporting Baku afloat
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Turan Tovuz have kept their man, and Sporting Baku go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Sporting Baku training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Xəyyam Hüseynov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thiago Albergaria
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Baku lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad29 May 2028
Romarinho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting Baku this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusif Nəbiyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
The dugout29 May 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market29 May 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sporting Baku know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
Thiago Albergaria damages knee ligaments — 81 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 81 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
Wages swallow 224% of the Sporting Baku income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Emmanuel Obuobi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“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 Sporting Baku know it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Herti Bashari
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
Orkhan Guseynov has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sporting Baku can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market6 Mar 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sporting Baku, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Romarinho in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting Baku this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The owner puts $509.3K into Sporting Baku
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rodrigo Fernandes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Romarinho's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager's exit leaves Yusif Nəbiyev exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Yusif Nəbiyev is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Yusif Nəbiyev 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sporting Baku lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Jan 2028
Asif Məmmədov 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 Sporting Baku can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Romarinho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Cristiano Junior has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sporting Baku is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Caíque Baiano 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.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
Sporting Baku have made the call to Gabala. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
A loan enquiry to Gabala: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Luka Jakopović
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Baku lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 67 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sporting Baku can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Sporting Baku asked and Gabala said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Caíque Baiano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sporting Baku this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Jan 2028
Romarinho is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Sporting Baku has been clear about where Romarinho stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caíque Baiano, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Caíque Baiano
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sporting Baku lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 May 2027
Bruno Morais and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 May 2027
Xəyyam Hüseynov 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.
The dugout10 May 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market10 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Lucas Evaristo signs something — a contract at Sporting Baku or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout10 May 2027
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.