Marked for Emin Mammadov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emin Mammadov commits to Inter for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Inter
Ilhan Fakili 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathew Gbomadu 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.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
“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 Inter, and 0 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
Market8 Mar 2027
Shahriyar Garayev returns from a loan that gave him nothing
0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Inter pull $184.6K back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ravan punish Inter for switching off
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ilhan Fakili will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Inter escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Ilhan Fakili takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ilhan Fakili provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Dec 2026
There were 6 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.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Javid Jafarov 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
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 12 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Chastening afternoon for Inter
A 0‑4 beating by Qarabag was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match2 Dec 2026
Inter bow out of the cup
Khazar go through and Inter go home, 2‑9 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
A cup hiding at Khazar leaves Inter explaining themselves
2-9, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad7 Dec 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.17, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Market7 Dec 2026
Only the photograph left for Javid Guseynov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Javid Guseynov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inter the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Dec 2026
Deniz Yilmaz among the goals in a wild afternoon
11 goals in one match, Deniz Yilmaz on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Inter and Khazar.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samir Sheydaev 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
Crisis
Market9 Nov 2026
Javid Guseynov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Inter they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 2026
He is 20, he is averaging 7.16, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Samir Sheydaev 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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The Inter dressing room has split into 3 groups
Squads form friendships and that is healthy; this is not that. 3 separate groups, 2 players belonging to none of them, and a set of tables at lunch that have stopped rearranging themselves. It very rarely fixes itself.
Squad9 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match31 Oct 2026
A hiding for Inter
Beaten 3‑11 by Khazar, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
14 goals as Inter and Khazar go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 14 goals between Inter and Khazar, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Bahlul Huseynov
“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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Inter dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Javid Madatov commits to Inter for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
There were 6 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
“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 Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ilhan Fakili 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 Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
Neftchi left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch28 Sep 2026
“I watch every Inter game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Fatih Karagumruk runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rufat Dadashov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Inter
1‑8 against Khazar, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad31 Aug 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A chastening introduction for Rashad Jafarov — 5.77
It is a hard way to meet a crowd. Marked 5.77 on the day he was handed the shirt, and the important thing now is what the next one looks like.
Match29 Aug 2026
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Inter and Khazar in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Market31 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Vugar Ozobic again, and this time the name on the line is Sumgayit. Inter are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad31 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 Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.