The AZAL Courier
Market17 Aug 2026
Lokomotivi 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Namig Nadirov 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Khazar take the points off AZAL
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Qara Bayramov 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
One of our own: Rahid Ismayilov joins the AZAL first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rahid Ismayilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
AZAL promote Kamran Garayev from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kamran Garayev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
AZAL promote Samir Garayev from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samir Garayev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Eddy Abdullayev
“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.
In brief
- Player ratings Qara Bayramov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
- Boardroom No investment in the facilities at AZAL
- Squad Qara Bayramov is off the mark for AZAL