Marked for Eddy Mammadov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Gabala has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match30 Oct 2027
12 matches without a win for Gabala
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Gabala are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market1 Nov 2027
Eddy Mammadov 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 Gabala can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gabala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Gabala training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Undheim 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jul 2027
A fracture rules Ismahil Akinade out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gabala will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Jul 2027
Gabala sink to position 8
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad26 Jul 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gabala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Eddy Mammadov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Tempers go at Gabala
Ismahil Akinade 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
“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.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Prince Owusu has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $310.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Ravan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gabala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom18 Jan 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ümid Səmədov has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Gabala have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Gabala training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Undheim 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
Match11 Jan 2027
Gabala sink to position 8
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Gabala did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market11 Jan 2027
Gabala get their man
The chase for Eddy Mammadov ended with $310.0K changing hands and Khazar out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Gabala
Sambou Sissoko 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.
Boardroom11 Jan 2027
Neftchi will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Edvin Kuč has pre-agreed a move to Gabala, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Qara Medvedev
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Khazar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Jan 2027
Khazar up to position 1
48 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Javid Nadirov breaks a bone — 35 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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
“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 Khazar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Khazar
Chriso 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Gabriel Burga gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gabriel Burga has just signed for Khazar, and for once the answer mattered.
Market11 Jan 2027
Business is business: Eddy Mammadov goes
Gabala paid $310.0K 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.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
“I watch every Khazar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gabala runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Oct 2026
6‑1, and Saïmon Bouabré took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Khazar tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Khazar right now
7 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Saïmon Bouabré at 20 — 8.20
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Saïmon Bouabré did not need any: 8.20, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Chriso 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
7 goals as Khazar and Zira go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Khazar and Zira, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 8‑1 against Inter, and it could have been more.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market31 Aug 2026
Eddy Mammadov 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Chriso delivers — 7.56
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Chriso scored, was marked 7.56, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Agil Jafarov 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
9 goals as Khazar and Inter go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Khazar and Inter, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Rufat Nazarov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tamkin Nadirov commits to Khazar for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Agil Jafarov 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.