Marked for Javid Madatov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at AZAL
Hrayr Mkoyan 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kleandro Kleandro 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
“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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Afran Medvedev 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Eddy Dadashov breaks a bone — 113 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Aug 2026
A hiding for AZAL
Beaten 0‑4 by Neftchi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 8 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.
Market31 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 AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AZAL have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Mahir Ramazanov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $280.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Sumgayit drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Inter 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AZAL lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Eddy Dadashov breaks a bone — 120 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Qarabag have kept their man, and AZAL go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at AZAL
Rahid Ramazanov 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
AZAL come up short against Zira
Zira left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout24 Aug 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 Tamkin Abdullayev to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AZAL lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
127 days out for Eddy Dadashov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AZAL will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad17 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Zira is saying, and nobody at AZAL is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at AZAL
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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
AZAL asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at AZAL
Rahid Ramazanov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tamkin Abdullayev 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
One of our own: Tamkin Nazarov joins the AZAL first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tamkin Nazarov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Eddy Dadashov out for 141 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AZAL will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 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 AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 46 days on the sidelines for Mahir Ramazanov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Afran Ozobic and AZAL agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Qarabag have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Sumgayit have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Mahir Ramazanov 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.