Marked for Javid Mammadov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Xəyal Fərzullayev is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match10 Oct 2026
Zira take the points off Khazar
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Qarabag to sit and watch. I want to come back to Khazar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.55, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kamran Ismayilov 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Afran Madatov pulls a muscle — 16 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Match12 Sep 2026
Khazar come up short against Ravan
Ravan left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kamran Ismayilov 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Khazar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I watch every Khazar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Qarabag runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 5.72. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 5.70. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Khazar can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Rashad Garayev at 21 — 7.61
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rashad Garayev did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Qara Guseynov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Kapaz made Khazar work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Rufat Ismayilov 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
7.92, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Khazar had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cavid Guseynov and Khazar agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Market24 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kamran Madatov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Khazar.