Marked for Samir Sheydaev
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Nov 2026
14 matches without a win for Khazar
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Khazar are no longer polite ones.
Match16 Nov 2026
Khazar sink to position 10
3 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match14 Nov 2026
Khazar are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Javid Jafarov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Khazar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samir Ismayilov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Khazar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Khazar
Cəlal Hüseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Samir Sheydaev
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
Nowhere to hide for Khazar
2‑5 against Inter, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad31 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
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 The request is on a desk at Khazar, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Inter wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Mahir Sheydaev among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Mahir Sheydaev on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Khazar and Inter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Agil Medvedev and Khazar agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ararat-Armenia have kept their man, and Khazar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ravan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Samir Ismayilov. The answer from Khazar has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Samir Sheydaev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Cəlal Hüseynov
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Khazar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Nadir Orucov is in the works
Khazar have made the call to Sumgayit. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Akim Leskov asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
Maksim Medvedev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Khazar has been clear about where Maksim Medvedev stands, which is more than many ever get.