Marked for Samir Medvedev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Khazar get their man
The chase for Marko Janković ended with $2.0M changing hands and Qarabag out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Khazar
Cavid Garayev 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.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The town asked, and Khazar paid $2.0M
Marko Janković was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $2.0M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Zenit: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Carlos López is in the works
Khazar have made the call to Málaga. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kamran Sadygov is on it.
Market25 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Cavid Garayev’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market18 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Pafos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cavid Garayev. The answer from Khazar has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rufat Ozobic 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Khazar
Alessandro Serpa 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Cavid Garayev gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cavid Garayev is on it.
The dugout18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A new face in his position, and Vüqar Mustafayev suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Khazar have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Market18 Jan 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kamran Sadygov’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market18 Jan 2027
Khazar have made Samir Medvedev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Pafos 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Khazar
Cəlal Hüseynov 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Zira: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Voices raised on the Khazar training ground
Two players, one bad tackle and a session that had to be stopped. It was over in a minute; it was outside the gates in an hour.
Market4 Jan 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Samir Medvedev has his answer from Khazar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2026
Khazar finish in position 7
19 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Dec 2026
A bad afternoon for Khazar against Zira
0‑1 to Zira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A season average of 7.20 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Orkhan Huseynov after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bahlul Garayev'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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Defences have started doubling up on Cavid Garayev
16 goals and a season average of 7.40 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ruslan Amirguliyev and Khazar agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Cavid Garayev 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
A goal on 96 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Qarabag leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Richard Ozobic 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rufat Ozobic 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Khazar are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Orkhan Huseynov chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
The chances came and went for Bahlul Garayev
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Match17 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Khazar?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AZAL? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Khazar will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market19 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Khazar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.