Marked for Rufat Bayramov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Sep 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 Inter can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristián Mosquera 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Zira take the points off Inter
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Mahir Bayramov
“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 ratings7 Sep 2026
Tamkin Nazarov did the work nobody counts — 6.85
11 combined actions and 6.85. 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Doxa will make the call about Richard Bayramov this week. Inter have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Aug 2026
A hiding for Inter
Beaten 1‑5 by Gabala, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 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 The request is on a desk at Inter, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Aug 2026
6 goals as Inter and Gabala go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Inter and Gabala, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Market24 Aug 2026
Khazar paid $160.0K and Inter took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cəlal Hüseynov 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Cristián Mosquera 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
Doors closed at Inter
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market17 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Inter spend $410.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $410.0K has been paid because Cristián Mosquera is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Squad17 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Inter
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Cristián Mosquera from Bogota for $410.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Rahid Abdullayev has come up in conversations Inter were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Shahriyar Bayramov 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.
The terraces17 Aug 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Agil Guseynov joins the Inter first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agil Guseynov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rufat Bayramov and Inter agree another 2 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 Inter this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahriyar Huseynov 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
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Inter
Rufat Bayramov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Inter training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cəlal Hüseynov 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Inter know it, and so does everybody who watches him.