From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Kapaz taken apart
0‑3 to Qarabag, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market28 Sep 2026
Ümid Səmədov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kapaz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Pachu 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 Kapaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Kapaz
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Adama Fofana 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Victor Stînă, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
Inquest at Kapaz
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Namig Huseynov to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
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Squad
Kapaz are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
When it matters, Dongo Cresus plays
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Market
Pachu linked with a move away
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Sep 2026
Kapaz sink to position 8
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Kapaz
Pachu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Pablo Ricardo 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
No place for Pachu in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Pachu has his answer from Kapaz; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Pachu
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pachu, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Kapaz take on the side everybody is chasing
Qarabag arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match9 Sep 2026
Kapaz through in the cup
A 4‑0 win over Ravan, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match12 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for Kapaz
A 0‑4 beating by Neftchi was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Elcan Əbilov takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Kapaz offered $1.2M; Sportivo Luqueno said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Kapaz
Pachu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.63, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 9.41 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 8 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 15 in, 0 out at Kapaz
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$1.2M on the table at Sportivo Luqueno. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Kapaz
Pachu 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Kapaz offered $75.0K; Inter said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Adama Fofana 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
AZAL take the points off Kapaz
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Victor Stînă slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Victor Stînă is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kapaz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Kapaz baulk at the price for Chriso
Qarabag wanted more than $610.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Pachu 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 Kapaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Inter this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match29 Aug 2026
Kapaz come up short against Zira
Zira left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets31 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Olawale Onanuga, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Khazar, and it could have been more.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Ramil Şeydayev, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at San Martín SJ is saying, and nobody at Kapaz is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Neftchi this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
An offer of $440.0K for Chriso
Kapaz have gone to Qarabag with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Kapaz
Pachu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Adama Fofana 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.
Transfer targets24 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.
In brief
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The dugout
Pachu gets it from the manager
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Squad
Kapaz are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
Namig Huseynov: “That is the standard”
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kapaz people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Colón keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Kapaz
Pachu and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Door shut on Chriso
Kapaz asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Kapaz
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Fofana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Yusif İmanov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A point taken on 97 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Zira, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Pachu 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 Kapaz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bahlul 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Richard Mammadov 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: Javid Sadygov joins the Kapaz first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Javid Sadygov 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. Samir Amirguliyev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad10 Aug 2026
No place for Ramil Şeydayev in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kapaz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Looking ahead10 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Gabala in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Kapaz would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
A career in one shirt: Əli Səmədov
10 seasons and 169 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Pachu signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pachu commits to Kapaz for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Kapaz
Pachu 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
Adama Fofana 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kapaz, another week without a signature from Rauf Hüseynli.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Pachu's contract
36 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.