Marked for Renat Dadashov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Araz Guseynov damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for Khazar
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.
Squad28 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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vüqar Mustafayev 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 51. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Araz Guseynov
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Khazar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Sep 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 Khazar can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The Khazar board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Nicola Martinelli 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Cüneyt Köz for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Khazar will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luiz Gustavo 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Khazar against Qarabag
0‑1 to Qarabag, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market7 Sep 2026
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Joel Medina arrives from Independiente with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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 Khazar can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Aug 2026
Khazar say no — this time
The offer from Umraniyespor for Kamran 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nicola Martinelli commits to Khazar for another 4 years.
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 Khazar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The medical room confirms 33 days on the sidelines for Afran Huseynov, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Khazar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vüqar Mustafayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Khazar say no — this time
The offer from ES Ben Aknoun 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Renat Dadashov commits to Khazar for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Khazar
Nicola Martinelli 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.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Namig Abdullayev has come up in conversations Khazar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Khazar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.