From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Nikola Stanković took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ravan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Nikola Stanković takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nikola Stanković provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match10 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Ravan 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Matias Paavola 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Ravan know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Qara Ramazanov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every Ravan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gabala runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Richard Khalilzade, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.02
A mark of 9.02 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match3 Oct 2026
9 unbeaten for Ravan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Ravan did not have in the autumn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
At 20, Michele Guerra is already the best thing here
An average of 7.07 in a first team he is several years too young for. Ravan have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Ravan know it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Marko Maučec 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 9.09 — 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for Ravan, 2‑1 the final word against Kapaz in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 unbeaten for Ravan
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Ravan did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Samuel Lobato was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.45. 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 9.36 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matias Paavola 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ravan get the job done against AZAL
A 2‑1 win over AZAL, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Sep 2026
Ravan up to position 1
12 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 110 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Michele Guerra, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match19 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Ravan do not lose
7 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Matias Paavola 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Qara Ramazanov at his very best
Marked 8.92. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ravan.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Sep 2026
Ravan through in the cup
A 2‑0 win over Kapaz, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 119 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Michele Guerra at 20 — 9.15
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michele Guerra did not need any: 9.15, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, Ravan do not lose
6 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Akim Mikhaylov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.84. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Samuel Lobato at his very best
Marked 8.68. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ravan.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 126 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Eddy Nadirov
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ravan make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ravan have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 9.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Matias Paavola 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Eddy Guseynov’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ravan.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Wages eat 257% of everything Ravan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad31 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Vugar Sheydaev out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ravan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Michele Guerra, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.34
A mark of 9.34 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Eddy Nadirov
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Samuel Lobato delivers — 7.18
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Samuel Lobato scored, was marked 7.18, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Matias Paavola 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Stanković 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over Sumgayit, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A debut Michele Guerra will not forget — 9.06
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 9.06 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Richard Khalilzade, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.88
A mark of 8.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Agil Guseynov. 3‑2 against Neftchi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Agil Guseynov at his very best
Marked 9.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ravan.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Nikola Stanković 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Eddy Nadirov
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Richard Khalilzade, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Ravan
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matias Paavola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emin Amirguliyev has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dimitrij Ismayilov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Rashad Nazarov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tamkin Garayev 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market10 Aug 2026
Ravan say no — this time
The offer from Kapaz for Ruslan Dadashov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Richard Khalilzade and Ravan agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ravan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matias Paavola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ravan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Daniil Golovin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Nikola Stanković falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ravan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Richard Nadirov commits to Ravan for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Richard Khalilzade trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.