From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Match31 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Ravan
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Tamkin Nadirov 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Rufat Nazarov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Yusuf Barasi 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Sumgayit left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
29 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market2 Nov 2026
Ravan and Edimar are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
Ravan throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Neftchi the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ravan will enjoy reviewing.
Market26 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 The request is on a desk at Ravan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Oct 2026
There were 7 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Ravan
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market26 Oct 2026
Only the photograph left for Qara Medvedev
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Qara Medvedev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ravan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Qara Medvedev 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Mahir Ismayilov — 7.92
Marked 7.92. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Match24 Oct 2026
Neftchi left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Maučec 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 9 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.
Market19 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Ravan's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ravan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rufat Nazarov is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Yusuf Barasi 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Trésor Mossi 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 terraces19 Oct 2026
At 22 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Loan watch19 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Oct 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.
Match12 Oct 2026
Ravan are in real trouble now
Position 8, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Ravan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ravan are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Rufat Nazarov 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
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Barasi 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 did not go to Qarabag to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ravan and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Edimar 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravan against Inter
0‑1 to Inter, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
In brief
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Squad
9 new faces, and Ravan are still learning each other
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Market
Ravan and Edson are talking past each other
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“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.
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
Tempers go at Ravan
Agil Sadygov 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Freire and Ravan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
Ravan supporters have found a favourite in Yusuf Barasi
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yusuf Barasi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.49 — 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 ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
101% of the income goes out in wages at Ravan
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Sergey Dulov yet — 8.68
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Rufat Nazarov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Barasi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.80, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahir Ismayilov, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ravan and AZAL take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yusuf Barasi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match19 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravan against Zira
0‑1 to Zira, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sergey Dulov 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.
Loan watch21 Sep 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Ravan
0‑1 against Kapaz, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Javid Nazarov out for 16 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.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Maučec 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tamkin Nadirov. 2‑1 against Khazar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Tamkin Nadirov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.89. 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yusuf Barasi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Mahir Ismayilov at his very best
Marked 8.06. 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
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Javid Nazarov out for 23 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
Emin Ozobic 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 Ravan can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yusuf Barasi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Trésor Mossi 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Rashad Huseynov at 21 — 8.32
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rashad Huseynov did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad31 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Maučec is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
At 21 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 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
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Supporters turn on the $1.9M sale of Qara Ismayilov
He is going to Apollon, the club has $1.9M 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.
Market24 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Apollon pay $1.9M, 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Agil Sadygov 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.
Squad24 Aug 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Ravan supporters have found a favourite in Yusuf Barasi
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yusuf Barasi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ruslan Ozobic was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Rufat Nazarov 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
3 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. Sergey Dulov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A bad afternoon for Ravan against Qarabag
0‑2 to Qarabag, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Orkhan Sadygov 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 Guseynov 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. Qara Dadashov 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nikola Stanković, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Rufat Nazarov knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 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.
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tamkin Abdullayev and Ravan agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ravan
Rufat Nazarov 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Ravan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Maučec 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
“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
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
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dimitrij Abdullayev and Ravan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Rufat Nazarov 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Samir Sheydaev is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ravan has been clear about where Samir Sheydaev stands, which is more than many ever get.