Samir Medvedev

Right Forward - Zira
7 Feb 2027
Sunday
Process

Marked for Samir Medvedev

25 Edition

The Zira Herald

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words at Zira training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qismət Alıyev 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Zira

Eren Aydın 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.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Rövlan Muradov

“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.

In brief

Back issues
24 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Khazar up to position 2

38 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Khazar say no — this time

The offer from Gabala for Samir Medvedev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ruslan Sadygov 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.

Market

Ravan expected to open talks for Afran Abdullayev

Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Khazar will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.

Loan watch

Samir Sadygov counts the days

“I watch every Khazar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kapaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.

In brief

23 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Renat Ramazanov breaks a bone — 21 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Al-Fateh come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Khazar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Afran Abdullayev asks to leave Khazar

“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.

Squad

The season belongs to Mehmet Sahin

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Khazar have had the benefit of it.

Squad

Araz Guseynov says Khazar went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

In brief

22 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Renat Ramazanov breaks a bone — 28 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ruslan Sadygov 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.

In brief

21 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 36 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Samir Medvedev has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Khazar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

In brief

19 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 50 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

The cup run ends for Khazar

3‑5 against Inter, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Bahlul Madatov

There were 8 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.

Player ratings

Samuel Lobato pops up at the right end — 7.38

7.38, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Match

4 matches without a win for Khazar

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Khazar are no longer polite ones.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cristian Costin

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Samir Medvedev did the work nobody counts — 6.67

16 combined actions and 6.67. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

Match

8 goals as Khazar and Inter go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Khazar and Inter, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

In brief

18 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Cristian Costin runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 57 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Mehmet Sahin is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.67 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Khazar

The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

3 goals for Mehmet Sahin

The match ball belongs to Mehmet Sahin, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Mehmet Sahin among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Mehmet Sahin on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Khazar and Gabala.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mehmet Sahin

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Khazar make home a hard place to visit

9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

In brief

17 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Renat Ramazanov breaks a bone — 67 days out

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.

Match

Whatever happens, Khazar do not lose

13 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Mehmet Sahin is carrying Khazar

21 goals and a season average of 7.60. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Samir Medvedev has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Khazar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cristian Costin

Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

The run at home goes on for Khazar

8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Squad

Words at Khazar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Costin 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mehmet Sahin

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

14 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 91 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Samir Medvedev takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings

Samir Medvedev, 34, rolls back the years — 9.91

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.91 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Squad

Bahlul Madatov keeps Khazar in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Khazar cannot stop winning

5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Mehmet Sahin is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.47 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Khazar get the job done against Inter

A 5‑4 win over Inter, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Khazar and Inter in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

Player ratings

One of those days for Mehmet Sahin

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

13 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Cristian Costin runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 98 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

No mercy from Khazar

Kapaz will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑3, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Khazar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

A brace, and Mahir Bayramov takes the afternoon — 8.46

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahir Bayramov provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

A brace, and Ruslan Sadygov takes the afternoon — 8.23

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ruslan Sadygov provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Shahriyar Sheydaev at 19 — 8.21

The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Shahriyar Sheydaev did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Market

Samir Medvedev has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Khazar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Match

Nobody wants to play Khazar right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Mehmet Sahin is carrying Khazar

14 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

In brief

  • Squad Tempers go at Khazar
  • Match Mahir Bayramov among the goals in a wild afternoon
  • Squad Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
12 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Renat Ramazanov breaks a bone — 106 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Match

Khazar run riot against AZAL

8‑4, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

Khazar are in among the leaders

Position 1 and 23 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

A day Samir Medvedev will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Player ratings

Both of them Samuel Lobato's — 8.29

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Age has not caught Samir Medvedev yet — 9.30

At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.

Player ratings

Shahriyar Sheydaev, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.99

A mark of 7.99 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Match

Nobody wants to play Khazar right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

11 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 114 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shahriyar Sheydaev

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Samir Medvedev, 34, rolls back the years — 7.86

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Samuel Lobato delivers — 7.60

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Samuel Lobato scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Match

Whatever happens, Khazar do not lose

7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

In brief

10 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 121 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Cristian Costin

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Whatever happens, Khazar do not lose

6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Ruslan Sadygov 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.

Match

Mahir Bayramov the difference as Khazar beat Neftchi

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mahir Bayramov. 1‑0 against Neftchi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

The game went through Mehmet Sahin — 7.04

Marked 7.04 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Mahir Bayramov

Marked 8.04 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.

Squad

No hiding place for Samir Medvedev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samir Medvedev, and the manager let it.

In brief

9 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 128 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Only the photograph left for Samir Medvedev

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samir Medvedev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Khazar the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Boardroom

Samir Medvedev has agreed to leave Khazar for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Shahriyar Sheydaev

Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

Squad

Words at Khazar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Sadygov 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.

In brief

8 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Renat Ramazanov out for 135 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Khazar refuse to drop out of the race

Position 1, 13 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Mehmet Sahin

12 goals and a season average of 7.31 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

No hiding place for Bahlul Madatov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bahlul Madatov, and the manager let it.

Loan watch

Samir Sadygov has seen enough of Kapaz

“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Khazar, and 0 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.

Match

Khazar share the spoils with Sumgayit

A 2‑2 draw with Sumgayit leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

Player ratings

Shahriyar Sheydaev runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Cristian Costin changes it off the bench

He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Khazar had a different afternoon.

In brief

6 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Orkhan Madatov out for 85 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

No mercy from Khazar

Qarabag will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Khazar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $1.0M sale of Kamran Sheydaev

He is going to Dinamo Brest, the club has $1.0M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Market

Daniil Tolstoy 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 Khazar can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Samir Medvedev’s move to Gabala falls through

The deal that would have taken Samir Medvedev to Gabala has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Khazar with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.

Market

Business is business: Kamran Sheydaev goes

Dinamo Brest paid $1.0M and Khazar took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Ruslan Sadygov 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 ratings

Ninety minutes of Mehmet Sahin at his very best

Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Khazar.

In brief

5 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Orkhan Madatov breaks a bone — 93 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Squad

3 goals for Mehmet Sahin

The match ball belongs to Mehmet Sahin, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Market

Khazar say no — this time

The offer from Inter for Araz Garayev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Agil Jafarov 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 Khazar can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Dinamo Brest watching Kamran Sheydaev

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Khazar have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Tempers go at Khazar

Enrico Bruno 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.

Player ratings

Mehmet Sahin in the eights

A performance of 9.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Match

Mehmet Sahin sends Khazar past Inter

It finished 3‑2, and it was Mehmet Sahin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Khazar.

Squad

Words at Khazar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Araz Mammadov 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.

In brief

4 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Vugar Madatov runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 47. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Khazar

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kapaz kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Khazar will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Squad

Orkhan Madatov breaks a bone — 100 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Khazar turn down Gabala for Mahir Bayramov

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Samir Medvedev asks to leave Khazar

“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.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Kapaz take the points off Khazar

Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

Ruslan Sadygov 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Afran Garayev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Afran Garayev, and the manager let it.

In brief

1 Edition

The Khazar Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Khazar turn down Konyaspor for Mehmet Sahin

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Enrico Bruno 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Khazar training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehmet Sahin 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.

In brief