From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market15 Feb 2027
Trésor Mossi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sumgayit they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Sumgayit
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keffel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chacarita Juniors have kept their man, and Sumgayit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I watch every Sumgayit game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Khazar runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Trésor Mossi
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
Cédric Badolo 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 Cédric Badolo is on it.
Market15 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sumgayit know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Renat Guseynov pulls a muscle — 18 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad8 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
Dimitrij Huseynov has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sumgayit 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Elías Santini
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Sumgayit has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market8 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sumgayit, another week without a signature from Trésor Mossi.
Market8 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Rachid Moumini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A wage question at Sumgayit
Rachid Moumini has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Trésor Mossi: 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.” Sumgayit have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 2 out at Sumgayit
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
Keffel 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 Sumgayit can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Renat Guseynov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
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.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sumgayit, and 11 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
No place for Elías Santini in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sumgayit are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bartosz Talar has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jeimes
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Jan 2027
Zira come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sumgayit did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with Colón is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Renat Guseynov 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Jefferson Ramos arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jefferson Ramos has, at Sumgayit, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
A loan move for Nicolás Sosa is in the works
Sumgayit have made the call to La Luz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 89% of everything Sumgayit 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Sumgayit 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bartłomiej Kolec commits to Sumgayit for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Jan 2027
Sumgayit say no — this time
The offer from Levski for Ronaldo Vásquez 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Aleksa Janković falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Sumgayit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Qarabag: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan enquiry to Colón: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Trésor Mossi 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Cédric Badolo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sumgayit 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
Roi Kehat 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Keffel out for 29 days
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Keffel, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Market11 Jan 2027
The deal that would have taken Trésor Mossi to Khazar has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Sumgayit with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sumgayit
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aleksa Janković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Neftchi have kept their man, and Sumgayit go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Rachid Moumini 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Roi Kehat
“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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A loan move for Edvin Kuč is in the works
Sumgayit have made the call to Neftchi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
No place for Bartosz Talar in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sumgayit are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Sumgayit say no — this time
The offer from Gabala for Trésor Mossi 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A move Bartosz Talar would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Bartosz Talar is living that version at Sumgayit, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sumgayit asked and Qarabag said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Renat Guseynov, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bartosz Talar and Sumgayit agree another 4 years.
Squad4 Jan 2027
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A loan move for Elvin Camalov is in the works
Sumgayit have made the call to Neftchi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ronaldo Vásquez 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 Dec 2026
Keffel 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 114% of everything Sumgayit 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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Renat Guseynov 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Jérémie Gnali has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sumgayit 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
The Keffel story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Keffel signs something — a contract at Sumgayit or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Sumgayit lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keffel 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.
Squad21 Dec 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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Jeimes 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Cédric Badolo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sumgayit 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.
Market21 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sumgayit know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match21 Dec 2026
Continental football is in reach for Sumgayit
31 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Sumgayit will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
Maksim Jafarov damages knee ligaments — 22 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match14 Dec 2026
Full time on the season at Sumgayit
Position 4 on 31 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Kapaz spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Dec 2026
It finished 2‑1, and it was Cédric Badolo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sumgayit.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match12 Dec 2026
Sumgayit 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maksim Jafarov
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sumgayit lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Dec 2026
The cup run ends for Sumgayit
0‑2 against Neftchi, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Renat Guseynov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Keffel 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 terraces7 Dec 2026
At 15 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Three points for Sumgayit, 1‑0 the final word against AZAL in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Ninety minutes of Ronaldo Vásquez at his very best
Marked 8.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sumgayit.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Ravan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sumgayit and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
Maksim Jafarov damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match28 Nov 2026
Sumgayit throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Zira the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Sumgayit will enjoy reviewing.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Sumgayit — 7.80
1 for Masaki Murata, marked 7.80, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market30 Nov 2026
Keffel 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ronaldo Vásquez 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 ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Zira left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Keffel 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
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Roi Kehat
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Boardroom
Wages swallow 110% of the Sumgayit income
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad23 Nov 2026
25 days out for Höccət Haqverdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sumgayit will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rachid Moumini 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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ronaldo Vásquez. 1‑0 against Khazar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.45 — 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
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.” Richard Dadashov kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Jeimes 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Cédric Badolo 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 Cédric Badolo is on it.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Zira in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Nov 2026
34 days out for Höccət Haqverdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sumgayit will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Hayk Khachatryan arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hayk Khachatryan has, at Sumgayit, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Keffel 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Rüstəm Əhmədzadə’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sumgayit.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Rüstəm Əhmədzadə was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.25. 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
No place for Roi Kehat on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Sumgayit pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Richard Dadashov, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
41 days out for Höccət Haqverdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sumgayit will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Pierluigi La Porta has just signed for Sumgayit, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Sumgayit
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keffel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Richard Dadashov left the room before anybody could ask which.
Market9 Nov 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Cənnətov, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
49 days out for Höccət Haqverdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sumgayit will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.85, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Jeimes says Sumgayit 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.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Shahriyar Ismayilov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Rüstəm Əhmədzadə’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sumgayit.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Jérémie Gnali 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 110% of the Sumgayit 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Rüstəm Əhmədzadə
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rüstəm Əhmədzadə has come out of that comparison in the side, and Sumgayit have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Renat Guseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Keffel 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑3 to Qarabag, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Sumgayit 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jérémie Gnali
“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 dugout26 Oct 2026
Cédric Badolo 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 Cédric Badolo is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
4‑1, and Rüstəm Əhmədzadə took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sumgayit tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Höccət Haqverdi out for 65 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sumgayit will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A brace, and Rüstəm Əhmədzadə takes the afternoon — 8.63
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rüstəm Əhmədzadə provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match17 Oct 2026
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Sumgayit did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Sumgayit
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Keffel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Aleksa Janković at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sumgayit.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Ronaldo Vásquez at his very best
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sumgayit.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Looking ahead
Sumgayit take on the side everybody is chasing
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Səbuhi Abdullazadə
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
73 days out for Höccət Haqverdi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sumgayit will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout12 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten Sumgayit
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Roi Kehat 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.
Match12 Oct 2026
Halfway: Sumgayit sit in position 5
13 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Richard Dadashov after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match10 Oct 2026
Point won or two lost for Sumgayit?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kapaz? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Keffel falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
AZAL made Sumgayit work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Match3 Oct 2026
Sumgayit keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 126% of everything Sumgayit 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rachid Moumini is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Sumgayit will try very hard not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market28 Sep 2026
Sumgayit may not be able to give Keffel what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Keffel wants continental football; whether Sumgayit can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keffel 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Sumgayit are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Zira will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Khazar, and it could have been more.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Höccət Haqverdi out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sumgayit 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
Up for the corner, and Masaki Murata delivers — 7.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Masaki Murata scored, was marked 7.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
22 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ronaldo Vásquez was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Richard Dadashov kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Jeimes 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Match9 Sep 2026
Sumgayit march on in the cup
AZAL are out and Sumgayit go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keffel 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 terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market14 Sep 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ruslan Sadygov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market14 Sep 2026
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.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Namig Mammadov has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market14 Sep 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kamran Nadirov 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.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Cédric Badolo at his very best
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Squad
Tempers go at Sumgayit
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The dugout
Keffel knocks on the manager's door
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.66, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 19 in, 3 out at Sumgayit
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Colón is saying, and nobody at Sumgayit is enjoying the guessing.
Market7 Sep 2026
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kapaz moved on, Höccət Haqverdi reports back to Sumgayit, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Sumgayit
Renat Guseynov 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
2‑3 to Neftchi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Keffel 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Keffel
“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
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Squad
International break empties Sumgayit
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Squad
Rachid Moumini is the division's best young player this month
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Nahuel Ciro
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sumgayit have done the hard part with Colón, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sumgayit asked and Zira said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
Three points for Sumgayit, 2‑1 the final word against Ravan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Renat Guseynov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.92 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sumgayit had the best player on the pitch.
Squad31 Aug 2026
No place for Renat Guseynov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sumgayit are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Sumgayit are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Aug 2026
0‑4 to Qarabag, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AZAL keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Market24 Aug 2026
Sumgayit say no — this time
The offer from Kapaz for Höccət Haqverdi 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done: Jérémie Gnali joins from Qarabag in a deal worth $800.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
An offer of $470.0K for Chriso
Sumgayit have gone to Qarabag with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Ronaldo Vásquez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market24 Aug 2026
Xəyal Fərzullayev has left for Kapaz in a $340.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sumgayit have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.77 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sumgayit have gone to Ravan with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
1 academy graduates step up at Sumgayit
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksa Janković 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Sumgayit
Rachid Moumini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Emin Ramazanov 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Inter leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sumgayit have gone to Qarabag with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Ian Vera rejects the move
Sumgayit 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.
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 Sumgayit this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sumgayit asked and AZAL said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rachid Moumini and Sumgayit agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dimitrij Khalilzade is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Javid Jafarov 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Cavid Madatov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronaldo Vásquez and Sumgayit agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ronaldo Vásquez 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Keffel 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sumgayit training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksa Janković 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Sumgayit have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Aleksa Janković’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Ian Vera is in the works
Sumgayit have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Khazar 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Xəyal Fərzullayev has his answer from Sumgayit; what he does with it is the next window’s story.