From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Emre Bilgin is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match10 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Andrei Zubov 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
AZAL are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match10 Oct 2026
Gabala take the points off AZAL
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZAL, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Dmitriy Guryev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.90. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Emre Bilgin 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Emre Bilgin knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Cengiz Kahveci 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
163% of the income goes out in wages at AZAL
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.41 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Richard Ismayilov, and the manager let it.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZAL, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
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Player ratings
Off the pace: Emin Bayramov
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Market
AZAL bring in an old head
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Market
Experience through the door at AZAL
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salih Malkoçoğlu 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ravan take the points off AZAL
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.06 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
William Kaastrup dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 5.67, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A mark of 5.66 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for AZAL
Position 9 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.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Andrei Zubov 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
AZAL come up short against Qarabag
Qarabag left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Sumgayit to sit and watch. I want to come back to AZAL and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
AZAL march on in the cup
Sumgayit are out and AZAL go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Emre Bilgin 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Dmitriy Guryev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.12. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match12 Sep 2026
Inter made AZAL work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Namig Ismayilov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Loan watch14 Sep 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZAL, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The AZAL board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
So close: Emin Guseynov’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Sumgayit moved on, Emin Guseynov reports back to AZAL, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Salih Malkoçoğlu 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
This league is too small for Emre Bilgin
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. AZAL will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Emre Bilgin
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Andrei Zubov 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Dmitriy Guryev at his very best
Marked 9.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AZAL.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jhon Chacón, and the manager let it.
Match29 Aug 2026
AZAL and Neftchi take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market31 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vugar Bayramov has his answer from AZAL; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Agil Ismayilov at 20 — 8.41
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Agil Ismayilov did not need any: 8.41, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Richard 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
Agil Ismayilov scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Zira, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Aleksandar Pantić 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
AZAL supporters have found a favourite in Agil Ismayilov
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Agil Ismayilov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aleksandar Pantić, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Guryev was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A hiding for AZAL
Beaten 1‑4 by Khazar, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market17 Aug 2026
Qarabag 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A first appearance Emin Bayramov will want to forget — 5.46
Everybody's debut is one of two stories and this was the other one. 5.46, and the only consolation available is that nobody's career has ever been decided by ninety minutes in a shirt he had just been given.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andrei Zubov 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
5 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shahriyar Guseynov 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eddy Ramazanov 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
One of our own: Rufat Jafarov joins the AZAL first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rufat Jafarov 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Richard Ismayilov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dmitriy Guryev commits to AZAL for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Andrei Zubov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at AZAL training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Guryev knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AZAL, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Rashad Nadirov has his answer from AZAL; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at AZAL
Richard 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Richard Ismayilov and AZAL agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Aleksandar Pantić 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Dmitriy Guryev knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dmitriy Guryev trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Emin Guseynov has his answer from AZAL; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
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Market
Experience through the door at AZAL
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Market
Nobody at AZAL has picked up the phone to Namig Ozobic