Marked for Agil Ismayilov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for AZAL
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad26 Oct 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Ismayilov 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.
Squad26 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch26 Oct 2026
9 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
In brief
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Squad
A AZAL teenager takes the young player award
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Match
No goals between AZAL and Zira
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.71, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match26 Oct 2026
Paralimni refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Markus Naglestad 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Demir Imeri. 3‑1 against AEL, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Harald Martin Hauso 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Enes Tayfun, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2026
AZAL sink to position 9
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for AZAL
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market12 Oct 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 AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Oct 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Silvester Shkalla 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for AZAL against Gabala
0‑2 to Gabala, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ruslan Ismayilov, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 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 Paralimni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Markus Naglestad 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Gal Kurež runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Markus Kuster lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Markus Kuster'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.
Match10 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for AZAL
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ruslan Ismayilov 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for AZAL against Sumgayit
1‑2 to Sumgayit, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Cavid Huseynov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market5 Oct 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at AZAL, another week without a signature from Pablo Ricardo.
Market5 Oct 2026
Marcão brings the grey hairs AZAL lacked
At 37, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Market5 Oct 2026
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Agil Ismayilov takes the afternoon — 8.49
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Agil Ismayilov provided it, and the 8.49 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Spyros Risvanis 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Markus Kuster 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Nea Salamis, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
139% of the income goes out in wages at Paralimni
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match9 Sep 2026
Cup progress for AZAL
A 0‑0 win over Sumgayit, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for AZAL against Inter
1‑3 to Inter, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruslan Ismayilov 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.
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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.25 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2026
Anorthosis will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Paralimni were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad7 Sep 2026
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad7 Sep 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 Paralimni this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Paralimni training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enes Tayfun 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kenan Yildirim and AZAL agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Eddy Nazarov for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. AZAL will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Namig Ismayilov 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.
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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Orkhan Mammadov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AZAL.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Samir Nazarov hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. AZAL have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ruslan Ismayilov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dimitrij Guseynov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AZAL.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Kenan Yildirim knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kenan Yildirim trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.