Marked for Rufat Nadirov
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
15 days out for Rufat Nadirov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gabala will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Gabala training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fərid İsgəndərov 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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
The leaders are next for Gabala
Qarabag top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Guido Hinteregger is the weekend's best young player
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Abbas Hüseynov’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gabala needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gabala know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Rufat Nadirov breaks a bone — 22 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Guido Hinteregger, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Anatoliy Nuriyev delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Anatoliy Nuriyev scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match7 Nov 2026
Gabala cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
Inter made Gabala work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André Castro commits to Gabala for another 2 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Gabala are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.” Orkhan Abdullayev kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Nov 2026
30 days out for Rufat Nadirov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gabala will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Jaime Sierra goes up and wins it — 7.80
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match31 Oct 2026
Gabala get the job done against Kapaz
A 1‑0 win over Kapaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” André Castro commits to Gabala for another 2 years.
Squad2 Nov 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad2 Nov 2026
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Gabala will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Orkhan Abdullayev could afford to be generous.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured at Gabala
Something was said to Eduardo Kunde and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Rufat Nadirov out for 37 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gabala will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Guido Hinteregger, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.07
A mark of 8.07 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match24 Oct 2026
AZAL made Gabala work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match26 Oct 2026
Gabala at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 4, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Orkhan Abdullayev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
A promise honoured at Gabala
Something was said to Guido Hinteregger and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Gabala
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fərid İsgəndərov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Guido Hinteregger is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
45 days out for Rufat Nadirov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gabala will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rza Cəfərov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match17 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Gabala against Zira
1‑2 to Zira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jaime Sierra, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Oct 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 Gabala this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Gabala
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fərid İsgəndərov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against AZAL in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
53 days out for Rufat Nadirov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gabala will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Gabala
Guido Hinteregger 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Gabala know which stage they are at.
Squad12 Oct 2026
13 new faces, and Gabala are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market12 Oct 2026
Gabala bring in an old head
Luís Cetin is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Market12 Oct 2026
Gabala bring in an old head
Sassá is 38 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zira in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rufat Nadirov breaks a bone — 60 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Guido Hinteregger, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.95
A mark of 7.95 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Renato Hyshmeri and Gabala agree another 2 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Həbib Hüşənov is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match3 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Guido Hinteregger. 1‑0 against Khazar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bruno Silva reaches 200 appearances
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Orkhan Abdullayev on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Gabala
0‑5 against Neftchi, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Rufat Nadirov out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gabala will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Gabala's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gabala has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Sep 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 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 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Orkhan Abdullayev to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Jaime Sierra'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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Beaten 5 times: a bad day for Səlahət Ağayev
1 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
Rufat Nadirov breaks a bone — 77 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match19 Sep 2026
Sumgayit left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.95 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gabala had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Orkhan Abdullayev left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Bruno Silva finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Gabala have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Rza Cəfərov gets it from the manager
“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.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Neftchi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The plan did not have a place for Eduardo Kunde
Nobody at Gabala is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Gabala will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Rufat Nadirov breaks a bone — 86 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Gabala will try again when the window opens; Zira may not be selling by then.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Isaac Amoah
“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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Gabala support went home talking about one name.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Isaac Amoah is still paying for one afternoon at Gabala
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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Fərid İsgəndərov 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ravan will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ruslan Amirguliyev 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rufat Nadirov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: Emin Madatov joins the Gabala first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Emin Madatov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Agil Amirguliyev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Gabala have made the call to Mattersburg. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad10 Aug 2026
6 new faces, and Gabala are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Looking ahead10 Aug 2026
Kapaz next, and one man in the Gabala dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A wage question at Gabala
Ismahil Akinade has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.