Marked for Ruslan Abdullayev
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AZAL is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Qara Garayev 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.
Squad16 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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Three points for AZAL, 1‑0 the final word against Inter in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Qara Garayev at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AZAL.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every AZAL game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sumgayit runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout16 Nov 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.” Eddy Ozobic kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout16 Nov 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The leaders are next for AZAL
Qarabag top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.74, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nadir Orucov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
AZAL get the job done against Kapaz
A 2‑1 win over Kapaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Samir Ramazanov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
At last: AZAL win one
5 matches without a win, and then this, against Kapaz. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Eddy Ozobic kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 15. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Shots: 4, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2026
AZAL out of the cup
Sumgayit ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Orkhan Nazarov, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Tamkin Ozobic, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Market14 Sep 2026
Naftan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and AZAL did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match12 Sep 2026
Orkhan Nazarov scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑5 to Inter, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match12 Sep 2026
No clean sheets in sight for AZAL
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match12 Sep 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AZAL and Inter in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.80 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 9 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
AZAL say no — this time
The offer from Akhmat Grozny for Valery Trifonov 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.
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 AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with NEC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at AZAL
Emin Sheydaev 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Gomel have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ruslan Abdullayev. The answer from AZAL has not changed — yet.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qara Garayev 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
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs have shaken hands with Zira; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Orkhan Nazarov commits to AZAL for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Emin Sheydaev 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at AZAL
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Qara Garayev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Kapaz: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Orkhan Nazarov 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 Orkhan Nazarov trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market10 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Maksim Jafarov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AZAL.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The offer went to Zira 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.
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 name of Ruslan Abdullayev has come up in conversations AZAL were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Qara Garayev 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Afran Amirguliyev commits to AZAL for another 1 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Nadir Orucov is in the works
AZAL have made the call to Sumgayit. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Orkhan Nazarov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Rashad Nazarov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at AZAL.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It is a strip of cloth and it decides nothing on a Saturday. It still tells the dressing room exactly whose opinion the manager values, which is the whole point of it.