Marked for Samir Ozobic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for AZAL
33 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.
The terraces8 Nov 2027
Anger at AZAL spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match6 Nov 2027
AZAL 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tempers go at AZAL
Shahriyar 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A move Javid Amirguliyev would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Javid Amirguliyev is living that version at AZAL, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Nov 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
20 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
The afternoon belonged to Samir Ozobic
7.30, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. AZAL had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Market8 Nov 2027
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Oct 2027
The wait goes on for AZAL
29 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.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
Anger at AZAL spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match9 Oct 2027
A hiding for AZAL
Beaten 0‑4 by Gabala, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tempers go at AZAL
Shahriyar 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.
Squad11 Oct 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
Doors closed at AZAL
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at AZAL, and it is a cruel one.
Squad11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Samir Ozobic's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for AZAL
Position 10 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market26 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at AZAL, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
Dimitrij Nadirov damages knee ligaments — 92 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Namig Jafarov out for 33 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
42 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Mar 2027
Dimitrij Nadirov damages knee ligaments — 120 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 120 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
70 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Jerry Orozco in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Mar 2027
AZAL are in real trouble now
Position 10, 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.
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Namig Mammadov commits to AZAL for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Nov 2026
No end in sight to AZAL's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AZAL has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jerry Orozco breaks a bone — 37 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market9 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 AZAL can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Shahriyar 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Kapaz take the points off AZAL
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
4 matches without a win for AZAL
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around AZAL are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Jerry Orozco in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahriyar Khalilzade 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Qara 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Marked 7.28. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Namig Abdullayev
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Namig Abdullayev has come out of that comparison in the side, and AZAL have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Sep 2026
AZAL and Kapaz cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Kapaz came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
AZAL taken apart
1‑4 to Khazar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market17 Aug 2026
Samir Guseynov has left for Qarabag in a $2.9M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
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 AZAL this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Shahriyar 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Kapaz have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Renat Nadirov. The answer from AZAL has not changed — yet.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Ramazanov, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the AZAL dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. AZAL lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Samir Ozobic is still paying for one afternoon at AZAL
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Samir Guseynov again, and this time the name on the line is Qarabag. AZAL are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samir Guseynov and AZAL agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Samir 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.