Marked for Namig Bayramov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Maksim Amirguliyev 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 Khazar 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Khazar against Gabala
0‑2 to Gabala, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nicolò Serra and Khazar agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Rufat Jafarov to a room that had heard them before.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Namig Bayramov named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Namig Bayramov is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Khazar told Cavid Nadirov something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Sep 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 21 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Richard Sheydaev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Khazar.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Vugar Ramazanov at his very best
Marked 8.25. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Khazar.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Richard Sheydaev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.22, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Rufat Jafarov kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Eddy Amirguliyev
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
Khazar spend $720.0K to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $720.0K has been paid because Hacıağa Hacılı is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market24 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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $110.0K — a club that wants Alessio Curci enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Neftchi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Khazar
Vüqar Mustafayev and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
The town asked, and Khazar paid $720.0K
Hacıağa Hacılı was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $720.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Khazar
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahir Guseynov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Khazar asked and Sumgayit said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
Afran Sheydaev has left for Ravan in a $8.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.