Qarabag U20

17 Aug 2027
Tuesday
Process
55 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

16 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Emmanuel Addai runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 46. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

The run at home goes on for Qarabag

13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.

Market

Qarabag pay Sporting Cristal $2.5M for a proper upgrade

Sporting Cristal did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $2.5M for Renato Solís, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Neftchi watching Kady Borges

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Qarabag have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Market

Only the photograph left for Silvester Shkalla

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silvester Shkalla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Qarabag the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Match

Nobody wants to play Qarabag right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho 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.

The terraces

Qarabag spend $2.5M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $2.5M for Renato Solís, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

In brief

Back issues
54 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

9 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Transfer targets

Qarabag make their move for Renato Solís

$2.5M on the table at Sporting Cristal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Qarabag baulk at the price for Ruslan Neshcheret

Dynamo Kyiv wanted more than $3.4M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Tommaso Biasci

Qarabag asked and Avellino said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Boardroom

Mamadou Diarra signs for Neftchi while still at Qarabag

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mamadou Diarra has agreed terms with Neftchi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Only the photograph left for Mamadou Diarra

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mamadou Diarra will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Qarabag the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Real improvement from Abiodun Toheeb at Qarabag

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abiodun Toheeb is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

In brief

53 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

2 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Qarabag turn down Astra for Reda Khadra

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

No deal for Andrea Ciofi at that price

Qarabag offered $3.5M; Cesena 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.

Market

Ardit Peposhi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qarabag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Toral Bayramov what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Toral Bayramov wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Musa Qurbanlı 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.

Market

Čebrail Makreckis wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A step back for Reda Khadra at Qarabag

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

Transfer targets

Qarabag try to borrow Tommaso Aliata

Pro Patria have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

52 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

26 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges says no to Neftchi

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kady Borges had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Match

The view from the top for Qarabag

46 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Transfer targets

Qarabag bid $3.2M for Ruslan Neshcheret

The offer went to Dynamo Kyiv 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 targets

Qarabag bid $2.9M for Andrea Ciofi

The offer went to Cesena 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Market

Luka Caculović has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qarabag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

Transfer targets

Qarabag rebuffed over Pedro Manoel

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tammeka have kept their man, and Qarabag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Dani Bolt wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

In brief

51 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

19 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Patrick Touray 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

No deal for Mattia Maita at that price

Qarabag offered $2.0M; Benevento 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.

The dugout

Mahir Garayev keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qarabag may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Liepaja for Abiodun Toheeb was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Silvester Shkalla has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qarabag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Qarabag rebuffed over Miguel Vargas

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitario have kept their man, and Qarabag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev moves on

Gabala pay $240.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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.

In brief

50 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

12 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev agrees terms with Gabala

The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Qarabag people have started saying his name in the past tense.

Market

Renaldo Cephas asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Transfer targets

Qarabag make their move for Mattia Maita

$1.4M on the table at Benevento. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Transfer targets

Qarabag rebuffed over Angel Zamudio

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sport Huancayo have kept their man, and Qarabag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Toral Bayramov wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

One of our own: Orkhan Khalilzade joins the Qarabag first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Orkhan Khalilzade is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

Toral Bayramov has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Qarabag will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

In brief

49 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

5 Jul 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev turns Sumgayit down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

The dugout

Elvin Cəfərquliyev keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qarabag may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Ardit Peposhi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qarabag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Pedro Bicalho 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell Qarabag: Ivan Filipović is not for sale

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.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Bruno Langa

“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.

In brief

48 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

28 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Qarabag are top

46 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Market

Qarabag turn down Neftchi for Kady Borges

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Bəhlul Mustafazadə hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Igor Leschuk rejects the move

Qarabag had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Moscow, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Market

Luka Caculović is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qarabag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Abiodun Toheeb

At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Transfer targets

No deal for Luis Chávez at that price

Qarabag offered $300.0K; Dinamo Moscow 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.

Squad

Late improvement for Toral Bayramov

At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

In brief

47 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

21 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev has said yes to Khazar

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Qarabag have lost him in all but the paperwork.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $2.8M sale of Matheus Silva

He is going to Khazar, the club has $2.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Transfer targets

No deal for Santiago Silva at that price

Qarabag offered $2.8M; Albion 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.

Market

Matheus Silva moves on

Khazar pay $2.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

Qarabag make their move for Igor Leschuk

$1.1M on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Silvester Shkalla is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qarabag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Late improvement for Pedro Bicalho

At 26 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Musa Qurbanlı 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

46 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

14 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges turns Neftchi down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

The dugout

Ceyhun Nuriyev: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Qarabag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Kapaz for Abiodun Toheeb was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Transfer targets

No deal for Ronaldo Vásquez at that price

Qarabag offered $1.3M; Sumgayit 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.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Toral Bayramov what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Toral Bayramov wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Transfer targets

Lokomotiv Moscow tell Qarabag: Ilja Lantratov is not for sale

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.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

In brief

45 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

7 Jun 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Qarabag bid $2.4M for Santiago Silva

The offer went to Albion 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.

Market

Martin Zlomislić moves on

Gabala pay $2.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Transfer targets

Rostov tell Qarabag: Timur Suleimanov is not for sale

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.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Pedro Bicalho what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Bicalho wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Boardroom

Luka Caculović has agreed to leave Qarabag for nothing

He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.

Market

Only the photograph left for Ardit Peposhi

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ardit Peposhi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Qarabag the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Qarabag make their move for Luis Chávez

$260.0K on the table at Dinamo Moscow. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

In brief

44 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

31 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody above Qarabag

First, on 46 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Market

Luka Caculović has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qarabag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dimitrij Nazarov

“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.

The dugout

When it matters, Kady Borges plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Bəhlul Mustafazadə asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Bəhlul Mustafazadə returns from a loan that gave him nothing

0 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.

In brief

43 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

24 May 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Boardroom

Qarabag have won it

This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.

Match

Whatever happens, Qarabag do not lose

21 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Match

Qarabag through in the cup

A 2‑1 win over Neftchi, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.

Player ratings

Emmanuel Addai beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

Qarabag win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 123th minute. Neftchi will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 8.25

Two goals and a mark of 8.25 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

The season belongs to Kady Borges

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Qarabag have had the benefit of it.

Match

Nobody wins at Qarabag

12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Reda Khadra

17 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

In brief

  • Market Toral Bayramov wants to know where this is going
  • Squad Words exchanged at Qarabag
  • Squad Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work
42 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

17 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Silvester Shkalla is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qarabag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Reda Khadra plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

Market

The Pedro Bicalho talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Qarabag know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Martin Zlomislić 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 Qarabag, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

The manager makes Elvin Cəfərquliyev a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Qarabag. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Squad

Questions about Luka Caculović on the training pitch

The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.

In brief

41 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

10 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Boardroom

Qarabag to lose Silvester Shkalla for free

There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Silvester Shkalla has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.

Market

Ardit Peposhi has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Qarabag they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Martin Zlomislić 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Toral Bayramov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Vüqar Mustafayev 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.

In brief

40 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

3 May 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Qarabag are top

46 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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 dugout

When it matters, Kady Borges plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Marko Janković linked with a move away

The name of Marko Janković keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qarabag say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

39 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

26 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

The dugout

When it matters, Matheus Silva plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Taofeek Ismaheel 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 Qarabag, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

Musa Qurbanlı linked with a move away

The name of Musa Qurbanlı keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Qarabag say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

The manager makes Ceyhun Nuriyev a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Qarabag. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

38 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

19 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Čebrail Makreckis: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Qarabag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Pedro Bicalho has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Qarabag can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Reda Khadra gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Reda Khadra is on it.

Market

The Pedro Bicalho question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pedro Bicalho’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Taofeek Ismaheel 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 Qarabag, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

A door opens for Dimitrij Nazarov

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Squad

Good reports on Elvin Cəfərquliyev

The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.

In brief

37 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

12 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Boardroom

Ardit Peposhi signs for Neftchi while still at Qarabag

The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ardit Peposhi has agreed terms with Neftchi for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.

Market

Ardit Peposhi is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Qarabag is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toral Bayramov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

The dugout

No hiding place for Dimitrij Nazarov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dimitrij Nazarov, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Toral Bayramov gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Toral Bayramov is on it.

The dugout

Pedro Bicalho 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 Qarabag, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

36 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody above Qarabag

First, on 46 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Market

Toral Bayramov wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Market

Dani Bolt wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

The dugout

Kady Borges has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Qarabag will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.

The dugout

Pedro Bicalho 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 Pedro Bicalho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bədavi Hüseynov 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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Elvin Cəfərquliyev

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elvin Cəfərquliyev, and the manager let it.

Market

The Marko Janković story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Janković signs something — a contract at Qarabag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

35 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Pedro Bicalho 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 dugout

Jaime Báez 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Samuel Lobato 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.

The dugout

Matheus Silva gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matheus Silva is on it.

Market

The Musa Qurbanlı story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Musa Qurbanlı signs something — a contract at Qarabag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

34 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

22 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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.

Squad

5 Qarabag players away with their countries

The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 5 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.

The dugout

Reda Khadra gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Reda Khadra is on it.

Market

The Pedro Bicalho question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pedro Bicalho’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

Musa Qurbanlı called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Qarabag that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

In brief

33 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Squad

Reda Khadra 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

When it matters, Toral Bayramov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Vüqar Mustafayev

“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.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bədavi Hüseynov 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.

Market

The Kady Borges question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kady Borges’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

32 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

8 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody above Qarabag

First, on 46 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Squad

An unwelcome headline for Musa Qurbanlı

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

Kevin Medina signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kevin Medina and Qarabag agree another 2 years.

Squad

Reda Khadra 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 dugout

No hiding place for Taofeek Ismaheel

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Taofeek Ismaheel, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Kady Borges gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kady Borges is on it.

The dugout

Musa Qurbanlı hit in the pocket

The fine is internal, the amount is nobody's business, and the fact that everybody at Qarabag knows about it by lunchtime is exactly the point of it.

Market

The Marko Janković story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Marko Janković signs something — a contract at Qarabag or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

31 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

1 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Still nobody has beaten Qarabag

The unbeaten run reaches 20. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

Kady Borges sends Qarabag through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Kady Borges obliged against Zira. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Qarabag.

Player ratings

Matheus Silva runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Qarabag turn down KuPS for Kady Borges

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Musa Qurbanlı makes the wrong kind of headline

Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Kady Borges delivers — 7.97

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Kady Borges scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Squad

Reda Khadra is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.35 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Qarabag make home a hard place to visit

11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work
  • Match Another one collected away from home
  • Player ratings Ninety minutes of Reda Khadra at his very best
30 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

KuPS watching Kady Borges

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Qarabag have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jaime Báez was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Mamadou Diarra wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Qarabag can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Dimitrij Nazarov 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.

The dugout

Kady Borges asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

The Pedro Bicalho question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pedro Bicalho’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

When it matters, Elvin Cəfərquliyev plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

29 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

15 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Dimitrij Nazarov keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Qarabag may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Toral Bayramov wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Kady Borges 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 Kady Borges trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

Dimitrij Nazarov gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dimitrij Nazarov is on it.

Market

The Kady Borges question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kady Borges’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

Squad

An aura around Jaime Báez

Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at Qarabag. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.

The dugout

Taofeek Ismaheel has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Taofeek Ismaheel has written the date down.

In brief

28 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody above Qarabag

First, on 46 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.

Market

Martin Zlomislić hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev: 10 seasons and counting

161 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Qarabag know exactly what they have.

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Pedro Bicalho 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

Boardroom

Qarabag agree a free transfer for Trésor Mossi

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Transfer targets

Jihlava tell Qarabag: Jan Haala is not for sale

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.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Dani Bolt what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Dani Bolt wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief

27 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges turns Ferencvaros down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Kady Borges asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

The dugout

Kevin Medina says Qarabag went back on their word

“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.

Squad

A career in one shirt: Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev

10 seasons and 161 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.

Boardroom

Qarabag close the window on a squad of their own making

1 in and 2 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Market

Qarabag turn down Sumgayit for Abiodun Toheeb

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Pedro Bicalho what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Bicalho wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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.

In brief

26 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Matheus Silva asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Dinamo Tbilisi for Taofeek Ismaheel was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Ferencvaros watching Kady Borges

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Qarabag have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Reda Khadra 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Lyndon Dykes

Qarabag asked and Millwall said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Boardroom

Wages eat 120% of everything Qarabag earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Squad

Jaime Báez has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Qarabag know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Martin Zlomislić

“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.

In brief

25 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Qarabag sell Mateusz Kochalski for $7.2M

Mateusz Kochalski has left for TSG Hoffenheim in a $7.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.

The terraces

Qarabag sell a favourite for $7.2M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mateusz Kochalski was one of the reasons people came, and $7.2M does not replace that by itself.

Market

Silvester Shkalla 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Qarabag turn down Zira for Chriso

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Toral Bayramov 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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Jaime Báez is in the works

Qarabag have made the call to Latina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dimitrij Nazarov

“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.

The dugout

When it matters, Dimitrij Nazarov plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

24 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Mateusz Kochalski has said yes to TSG Hoffenheim

The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Qarabag have lost him in all but the paperwork.

Match

Qarabag are top

46 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

The dugout

Vüqar Mustafayev: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Qarabag have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Inter for Bəhlul Mustafazadə was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Ardit Peposhi hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Qarabag can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ian Vera rejects the move

Qarabag had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Estudiantes, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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 targets

Door shut on Afran Bayramov

Qarabag asked and Khazar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bədavi Hüseynov 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.

In brief

23 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Kady Borges asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Market

Qarabag turn down Al Ahly for Kady Borges

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

The season belongs to Kady Borges

An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Qarabag have had the benefit of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Musa Qurbanlı and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Bicalho 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.

Transfer targets

San Lorenzo tell Qarabag: Branco Salinardi is not for sale

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.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Qarabag will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Market

Matheus Silva told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Matheus Silva has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Qarabag.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev raises the bar for Qarabag

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Qarabag heard it as anything else.

In brief

22 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Toral Bayramov wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Toral Bayramov 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.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 178% of the Qarabag income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Squad

Qarabag are still strangers to each other

5 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 dugout

Pedro Bicalho 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 Pedro Bicalho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

The formation has left Mamadou Diarra behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Qarabag will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market

The Pedro Bicalho question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pedro Bicalho’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

When it matters, Elvin Cəfərquliyev plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

In brief

21 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bədavi Hüseynov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Dimitrij Nazarov gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Dimitrij Nazarov is on it.

Market

The Kady Borges question follows Qarabag around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kady Borges’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Čebrail Makreckis asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

A door opens for Elvin Cəfərquliyev

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

Market

The shop window has Patrick Touray in it

Qarabag have let the market know Patrick Touray can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

The dugout

Kady Borges keeps his manager's vote

The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Kady Borges plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.

In brief

20 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

19 unbeaten for Qarabag

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 19 matches without defeat is a foundation Qarabag did not have in the autumn.

Match

The view from the top for Qarabag

46 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Match

Full time on the season at Qarabag

Position 1 on 46 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.

The dugout

Dimitrij Nazarov says Qarabag went back on their word

“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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Emmanuel Addai

Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Nobody wins at Qarabag

10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Match

The run is over for Qarabag

7 matches without defeat, and then Neftchi. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Qarabag are at home on the road

3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

In brief

19 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cup progress for Qarabag

A 4‑1 win over Kapaz, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Qarabag tear Inter apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Inter, and it could have been more.

Match

Qarabag cannot stop winning

7 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 ratings

Diego Rosa scores twice — 8.28

Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 8.27

Two goals and a mark of 8.27 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Dimitrij Nazarov, 36, rolls back the years — 8.31

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Oleksiy Kashchuk runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Reda Khadra is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.36 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Pedro Bicalho what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Pedro Bicalho wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

In brief

18 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Qarabag cannot stop winning

5 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.

Market

Kady Borges wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Reda Khadra is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.33 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Qarabag get the job done against Kapaz

A 2‑1 win over Kapaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Boardroom

177% of the income goes out in wages at Qarabag

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.

Match

Qarabag make home a hard place to visit

8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Oleksiy Kashchuk

Marked 8.52 — 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.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Emmanuel Addai at his very best

Marked 8.36. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qarabag.

In brief

  • Player ratings One of those days for Reda Khadra
  • The dugout Kevin Medina left out for the big one
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
17 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

No mercy from Qarabag

AZAL will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Qarabag were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 8.41

Two goals and a mark of 8.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Match

Nobody wants to play Qarabag right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Reda Khadra

14 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedro Bicalho was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Oleksiy Kashchuk at his very best

Marked 8.49. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qarabag.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Kady Borges at his very best

Marked 8.27. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qarabag.

The dugout

A promise honoured for Bruno Langa

It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Qarabag told Bruno Langa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.

In brief

16 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

The view from the top for Qarabag

36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oleksiy Kashchuk

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

The dugout

Abbas Hüseynov says Qarabag went back on their word

“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.

Market

Toral Bayramov raises the bar for Qarabag

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Qarabag heard it as anything else.

Match

Nobody wants to play Qarabag right now

3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Squad

Reda Khadra is carrying Qarabag

12 goals and a season average of 7.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Match

Ceyhun Nuriyev sends Qarabag past Zira

It finished 2‑0, and it was Ceyhun Nuriyev’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Qarabag.

Player ratings

One of those days for Reda Khadra

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

15 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Oleksiy Kashchuk beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 39. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Match

13 unbeaten for Qarabag

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Qarabag did not have in the autumn.

Market

Pedro Bicalho raises the bar for Qarabag

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Qarabag heard it as anything else.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Reda Khadra sends Qarabag past Khazar

It finished 2‑1, and it was Reda Khadra’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Qarabag.

Market

Qarabag promote Rashad Dadashov from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rashad Dadashov 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Reda Khadra

11 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra in the eights

A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Looking ahead

The big one: Zira come into view

Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Qarabag will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.

In brief

14 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

12 unbeaten for Qarabag

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation Qarabag did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Marko Janković pops up at the right end — 7.98

7.98, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.

Market

Kady Borges raises the bar for Qarabag

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Qarabag heard it as anything else.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Bicalho 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.

Boardroom

Wages eat 177% of everything Qarabag earn

There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.

Match

Reda Khadra sends Qarabag past Gabala

It finished 2‑0, and it was Reda Khadra’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Qarabag.

Player ratings

Oleksiy Kashchuk was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.35. 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 ratings

A masterclass from Reda Khadra

Marked 8.03 — 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Samuel Lobato 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.

In brief

13 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Mateusz Kochalski keeps Qarabag in it on his own

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.

Match

11 unbeaten for Qarabag

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Qarabag did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oleksiy Kashchuk

Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Qarabag

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Toral Bayramov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Pedro Bicalho is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

Market

No place for Vüqar Mustafayev in the plan

“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vüqar Mustafayev has his answer from Qarabag; what he does with it is the next window’s story.

Match

Musa Qurbanlı rescues a point for Qarabag

It needed Musa Qurbanlı to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sumgayit, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.

The dugout

Pedro Bicalho 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 Pedro Bicalho trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

12 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Qarabag are top

26 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.

Match

Whatever happens, Qarabag do not lose

10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.

Squad

Pedro Bicalho 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Taofeek Ismaheel runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

100 appearances for Pedro Bicalho

100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.

Match

The run is over for Qarabag

4 matches without defeat, and then Ravan. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Player ratings

Oleksiy Kashchuk stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.49 on the card, and the Qarabag support went home talking about one name.

Squad

Bədavi Hüseynov 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 dugout

Mahir Sadygov: “We have to be better”

“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.

In brief

11 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Oleksiy Kashchuk runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Qarabag make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qarabag have 4 straight wins of it.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Qarabag training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedro Bicalho 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.

Match

Reda Khadra sends Qarabag past Neftchi

It finished 1‑0, and it was Reda Khadra’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Qarabag.

Player ratings

One of those days for Reda Khadra

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

A quiet fortnight at Qarabag

With 6 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Dani Bolt what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Dani Bolt wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Match

Halfway: Qarabag sit in position 1

25 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

In brief

10 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Oleksiy Kashchuk

Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 8.31

Two goals and a mark of 8.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Match

Qarabag make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qarabag have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Boardroom

Wages swallow 213% of the Qarabag income

Every club 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 it has been tried.

Match

Qarabag find a way past Inter

Inter made Qarabag work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Looking ahead

Top-of-the-table clash for Qarabag

Neftchi next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.

Squad

Player of the month: Kady Borges

Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Qarabag prefer.

In brief

9 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Qarabag run riot against Kapaz

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Emmanuel Addai runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Market

Qarabag may not be able to give Kady Borges what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Kady Borges wants continental football; whether Qarabag can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Qarabag

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Oleksiy Kashchuk at his very best

Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Qarabag.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kady Borges

Marked 8.10 — 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.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra in the eights

A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Market

Elvin Cəfərquliyev raises the bar for Qarabag

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Qarabag heard it as anything else.

In brief

8 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Qarabag run riot against AZAL

5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

A brace, and Musa Qurbanlı takes the afternoon — 8.50

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Musa Qurbanlı provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

The view from the top for Qarabag

16 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 8.32

Two goals and a mark of 8.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Market

Toral Bayramov wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Match

Musa Qurbanlı among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, Musa Qurbanlı on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Qarabag and AZAL.

Match

6 unbeaten for Qarabag

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Qarabag did not have in the autumn.

Player ratings

Kady Borges in the eights

A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

7 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Reda Khadra was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 32. 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.

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Qarabag hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Match

The run is over for Qarabag

4 matches without defeat, and then Zira. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Samuel Lobato 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 ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched Pedro Bicalho

7.30, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Qarabag had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Mahir Sadygov on the draw

“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.

The dugout

Martin Zlomislić 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.

Market

The shop window has Matheus Silva in it

Qarabag have let the market know Matheus Silva can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Match

Point won or two lost for Qarabag?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Zira? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief

6 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Kady Borges leads the rout of Khazar

3‑0, and Kady Borges took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Qarabag tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Match

Qarabag make it 4 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qarabag have 4 straight wins of it.

Boardroom

Qarabag close the window on a squad of their own making

15 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.

Boardroom

The Qarabag 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho 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.

Squad

A quiet fortnight at Qarabag

With 7 players away on international duty the sessions are small and the manager can actually hear himself. It is the one break in the season, and it never quite feels like one.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Kady Borges

Marked 8.21 — 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Reda Khadra

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Dani Bolt makes it 100

100 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

5 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

4 goals for Musa Qurbanlı

The match ball belongs to Musa Qurbanlı, whose 4 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

Musa Qurbanlı leads the rout of Gabala

6‑0, and Musa Qurbanlı took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Qarabag tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Market

Oleksiy Kashchuk says no to Dinamo Tbilisi

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Oleksiy Kashchuk had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Player ratings

Both of them Kady Borges's — 8.05

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Market

Abbas Hüseynov 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 Qarabag, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Gabala for Abbas Hüseynov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Match

Qarabag make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Qarabag have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Pedro Bicalho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Nobody could stop scoring

6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Qarabag and Gabala in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.

In brief

4 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Qarabag come from 2 down to beat Sumgayit

At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Qarabag found something the first half had given no notice of, and Sumgayit could not hold what they had.

Market

Bədavi Hüseynov asks to leave Qarabag

“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.

Player ratings

Kady Borges goes up and wins it — 7.69

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 7.69 for the rest of it.

Market

Qarabag say no — this time

The offer from Gabala for Bədavi Hüseynov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Dinamo Tbilisi join the queue for Oleksiy Kashchuk

Add another name to the list: Dinamo Tbilisi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oleksiy Kashchuk. The answer from Qarabag has not changed — yet.

Squad

Tempers go at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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 targets

Qarabag rebuffed over Cristian Núñez

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Huracán have kept their man, and Qarabag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Qarabag see off Sumgayit

Three points for Qarabag, 3‑2 the final word against Sumgayit in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

No hiding place for Mateusz Kochalski

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mateusz Kochalski, and the manager let it.

In brief

3 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Reda Khadra scores twice — 7.98

Two goals and a mark of 7.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Transfer targets

Qarabag rebuffed over Marian Shved

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Shakhtar have kept their man, and Qarabag go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Kady Borges 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 Qarabag this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

Business is business: Jérémie Gnali goes

Inter paid $760.0K and Qarabag took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.

Match

Reda Khadra sends Qarabag past Ravan

It finished 3‑1, and it was Reda Khadra’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Qarabag.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Oleksiy Kashchuk

Marked 8.32 — 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.

Squad

Appearance number 100 for Reda Khadra

100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

The dugout

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.” Mahir Sadygov kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Abiodun Toheeb 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.

In brief

2 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Pedro Bicalho wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words exchanged at Qarabag

Kady Borges 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.

Market

Joni Montiel moves on

Gabala pay $400.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Market

Namig Mammadov steps up from the Qarabag academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Namig Mammadov 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.

Market

One of our own: Mahir Ozobic joins the Qarabag first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mahir Ozobic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

The dugout

Renaldo Cephas 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.

Squad

Ceyhun Nuriyev has outgrown this division

There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Qarabag know it, and so does everybody who watches him.

The dugout

Kady Borges 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 Kady Borges trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Squad

Kady Borges wants to know why he earns less

Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Qarabag have no good answer.

In brief

1 Edition

The Qarabag Chronicle

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

13 seasons of Bədavi Hüseynov

326 appearances across 13 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Qarabag know what they have.

Market

Qarabag turn down Dinamo Minsk for Şəhruddin Məhəmmədəliyev

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Kady Borges wants more than Qarabag are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Reda Khadra signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Reda Khadra and Qarabag agree another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Qarabag

Kady Borges and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Joni Montiel attracts admirers

The name of Joni Montiel has come up in conversations Qarabag were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.

In brief

  • Market Dani Bolt has his eye on Europe
  • Squad 9 new faces, and Qarabag are still learning each other
  • The dugout Kady Borges asks for a word with the manager