The Neftchi Sentinel
Market6 Mar 2028
Farruh Sayfiyev puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Neftchi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Mar 2028
Qurbonali Shomurodov comes home
The shirt still fits. Qurbonali Shomurodov is back at Neftchi, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Neftchi
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Anvarjon G'ofurov signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Anvarjon G'ofurov and Neftchi agree another 2 years.
Market6 Mar 2028
One of our own: Eldor Hasanov joins the Neftchi first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eldor Hasanov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market6 Mar 2028
Neftchi promote Otabek Ganiev from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Otabek Ganiev 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
Neftchi see off AGMK
Three points for Neftchi, 1‑0 the final word against AGMK in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The decline has begun for Muhsinjon Ubaydullayev
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 33 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Neftchi is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Sylvanus Nimely makes it 200
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
In brief
- Squad A row about effort at Neftchi
- Player ratings Ninety minutes of Alisher Odilov at his very best
- Boardroom Neftchi board go back on their word