The AZAL Courier
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Ruslan Medvedev 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Mahir Nazarov among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Mahir Nazarov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of AZAL and Khazar.
Match15 Aug 2026
Khazar take the points off AZAL
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at AZAL
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Moisés Velásquez 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
AZAL promote Araz Ismayilov from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Araz Ismayilov 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
Agil Nadirov steps up from the AZAL academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Agil Nadirov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Masimiliano Doda
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and AZAL 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.
In brief
- Market Javid Mammadov is free to find somewhere else
- Boardroom No investment in the facilities at AZAL
- Player ratings Off the bench and decisive: Maksim Jafarov