Marked for Afran Sheydaev
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market7 Dec 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Ravan's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ravan has to find a result from somewhere.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ravan cannot find the net
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Ravan
Salim Hashimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragoljub Savić 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.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Salim Hashimov 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Afran Sheydaev and Ravan agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Ravan
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ravan are no longer polite ones.
Market30 Nov 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 Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ravan cannot find the net
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad30 Nov 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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dragoljub Savić 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Afran Sheydaev and Ravan agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
A six-pointer for Ravan
Khazar next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Rashad Guseynov
“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
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2026
Ravan are in real trouble now
Position 9, 5 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match21 Nov 2026
A hiding for Ravan
Beaten 0‑3 by Sumgayit, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Nov 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Afran Sheydaev: 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.” Ravan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Ravan
5 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Ravan
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ravan can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Salim Hashimov 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Dragoljub Savić
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Rahid Huseynov for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ravan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Rashad Nadirov damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Salim Hashimov is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ravan
Salim Hashimov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Ravan is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ravan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market12 Oct 2026
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Mahir Mammadov leaves Ravan the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Rashad Nadirov
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ravan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Age has not caught Kamran Nadirov yet — 7.87
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match3 Oct 2026
At last: Ravan win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against AZAL. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dragoljub Savić 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
Ravan get the job done against AZAL
A 1‑0 win over AZAL, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Afran Sheydaev and Ravan agree another 1 years.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” Renat Dadashov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Medvedev, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Ravan
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Ravan are no longer polite ones.
Market21 Sep 2026
Kamran Nadirov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ravan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ravan are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Samuel Lobato did the work nobody counts — 6.51
16 combined actions and 6.51. 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Ravan
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Rashad Guseynov 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ravan come up short against Khazar
Khazar left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ruslan Khalilzade 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Aug 2026
A hiding for Ravan
Beaten 0‑3 by Sumgayit, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 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.
Squad31 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.0K — a club that wants Nuğay Rəşidov enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
$25.0K on the table at Gabala. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
Inquest at Ravan
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Salim Hashimov 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Aug 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 Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ravan
Maksim Amirguliyev and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Aug 2026
Agil Huseynov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Neftchi, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Mamonov 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Agil Madatov
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Samuel Owusu, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Ravan
A 0‑4 beating by Qarabag was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market17 Aug 2026
Timur Mamonov 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 Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ravan say no — this time
The offer from Sumgayit for Rufat Ismayilov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Ravan and Khazar have settled on $8.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
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 Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Ravan
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$9.0K was the most the club would pay and Inter were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timur Mamonov 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Khazar have kept their man, and Ravan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Khazar say no — this time
The offer from BKMA for Renat Garayev was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Khazar have gone to Neftchi with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
$140.0K on the table at Neftchi. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Khazar
Shahriyar Garayev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahir Guseynov 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Anatoly Mamonov commits to Khazar for another 2 years.
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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Mahir Guseynov knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Khazar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Afran Sheydaev has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Khazar.