Marked for Qara Abdullayev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Vugar Guseynov at 21 — 7.85
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vugar Guseynov did not need any: 7.85, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market5 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ruslan Mammadov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Khazar the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Xəyal Fərzullayev is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Javid 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Javid Abdullayev 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vugar Guseynov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Neftchi made Khazar work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match3 Oct 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Vugar Guseynov in the middle of it, and Neftchi unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Realdo Fili was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Samir Ismayilov out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Khazar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Cavid Madatov at his very best
Marked 9.98. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Khazar.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 goals as Khazar and Ravan go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Khazar and Ravan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match12 Sep 2026
Khazar get the job done against Ravan
A 4‑2 win over Ravan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Javid Ozobic 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Sumgayit to sit and watch. I want to come back to Khazar and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Market14 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kamran Nazarov signs something — a contract at Khazar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Vugar Guseynov at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vugar Guseynov did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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
The phone has started ringing about Cavid Madatov again, and this time the name on the line is Umraniyespor. Khazar are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Levan Shengelia 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Khazar
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Javid Ozobic 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kamran Jafarov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Richard Ozobic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.