Azerbaijan Premier League
| Countries | Azerbaijan |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Azerbaijan First Division |
| Domestic cup(s) | Azerbaijan Cup |
| International cup(s) | Champions League Europa League |
| Current champions | Inter Baku (2009-10) |
| Most championships | Neftchi Baku (5 titles) |
| TV partners | AzTV, Idman Azerbaijan TV |
| Website | http://www.pfl.az |
 2010–11 |
|
The Azerbaijan Premier League (Azerbaijani: Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası), currently named Unibank Premyer Liqası after its main sponsor, is the top tier in Azerbaijani club football.
The Azerbaijan Premier League was organized in 2007 and succeeded the Top Division (Azerbaijani: Yüksək Liqa), the difference being that the Top Division was run by the Professional Football League of Azerbaijan, and the creation of the Premier League gave the clubs a greater degree of independence. The Top Division had existed from 1992 to 2007.
Inter Baku are the current Azerbaijan Premier League champions.[1][2]
Contents |
History
The 1990s
The league were dominated by teams like Neftchi Baku, FK Gäncä and FK Shamkir. However, financial struggles had bad impact on local clubs and most teams such as Khazri Buzovna, FK Shamkir, FK Vilash Masalli and Shafa Baku went bust due increasing debts.
The 2000s
As Premyer Liqa entered a new century, the Neftchi Baku found themselves facing new challengers. They were challenged by a re-emerging Khazar Lankaran, Inter Baku and FK Baku in both competitions. Under the management of Agaselim Mirjavadov, Khazar Lankaran finished as Azerbaijan Cup winners in 2006 and 2007, while becoming league champions in 2006 despite losing the title to Neftchi in 2004 during Championship play-off. FK Qarabağ was the first ever team from Azerbaijan to reach UEFA Europa League play off-round during the season 2009-10. Few gave chances for qualification to the next round, although the Aghdam side caused quite a stir against favorites Rosenborg BK, FC Honka and FC Twente.
Competition format
There are 12 teams in the competition. A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Azerbaijan Premier League and the Azerbaijan First Division. The two lowest placed teams in Premier League are relegated to the First Division, and the top two teams from the First Division are promoted to Premier League.
The league is competed in two stages. The first stage consists of a regular home-and-away round-robin schedule for a total of 22 matches per team. The competition will then be split in half with each team will take over to the respective grou records earned against the remaining 5 teams from their first round group. The teams ranked first through sixth will play out the championship and the European spots while the bottom six teams will have to avoid one of the two relegation places.[3][4]
The league typically runs from August to May.
Qualification for European competitions
The champions qualify for the UEFA Champions League, the second and third placed teams qualifies for the UEFA Europa League.
Sponsorship
Talks began with UniBank and a deal was confirmed shortly afterwards. A three-year deal came into effect from 24 September 2009.[5][6]
- 2009–2012: Unibank Premyer Liqası[7]
Media coverage
AzTV currently own all the rights to broadcast the 2009-10 season's games on terrestrial TV.[8][9][10] In Azerbaijan, the Premier League is also available on Idman Azerbaycan TV.
Players
Azerbaijan Premier League clubs have almost complete freedom to sign whatever number and category of players they wish. There is no team or individual salary cap, no squad size limit, no age restrictions other than those applied by general employment law, no restrictions on the overall number of foreign players, and few restrictions on individual foreign players — all players with EU nationality, including those able to claim an EU passport through a parent or grandparent, are eligible to play, and top players from outside the EU are able to obtain Azerbaijani work permits.
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Nazim Aliyev |
183 |
| 2 | Mushfig Huseynov |
125 |
| 3 | Rovshan Ahmadov |
116 |
| 4 | Gurban Gurbanov |
115 |
| 5 | Samir Alakbarov |
115 |
| 6 | Alay Bahramov |
108 |
| 7 | Vadim Vasilyev |
102 |
| 8 | Khagani Mammadov |
102 |
| 9 | Kanan Karimov |
102 |
| 10 | Nadir Nabiyev |
100 |
| As of 17 May 2010[11] | ||
Nazim Aliyev it is an all time topscorer of the Azerbaijan Premier League, having scored 39 goals in 1992 season.[12]
Azerbaijan Premier League transfer records
- Highest transfer fee paid: Oktay Derelioğlu, from Akçaabat Sebatspor to Khazar Lankaran, €200,000, 9 December 2004[13]
- Highest transfer fee received: Vagif Javadov, from FK Karabakh to FC Twente, €1,500,000, January 5, 2010[14]
Records
- As of 30 August 2009
- Most titles: PFC Neftchi, 5
- All time top scorer: Nazim Aliyev (183 goals)[15]
- Top scorer in one season: 1992 Nazim Aliyev (39 goals)
- Most league titles won: Mahmud Qurbanov, he has won Azerbaijani championship record 10 times.[16]
- Oldest player: Nadir Shukurov, for FK Karvan vs FK Mughan, 42 years, 19 April 2009[17]
Notable foreign managers
Vlastimil Petržela
Tony Adams
Kakhaber Tskhadadze
Winfried Schäfer
Gjoko Hadžievski
Rasim Kara- Naci Şensoy
- Bülent Korkmaz
Anatoly Konjkov- Anatoliy Demyanenko
- Viktor Pasulko
Azerbaijan Premier League members for 2010–11
| Club | Location | 2009-10 season |
|---|---|---|
| FC Inter Baku | Baku | 1st |
| FK Baku | Baku | 4th |
| FK Gäncä | Ganja | 1st in Birinci Divizion |
| FK Khazar Lankaran | Lankaran | 2nd |
| FK Mughan | Salyan | 10th |
| FK Qarabağ | Agdam | 3rd |
| MOIK Baku | Baku | 2nd in Birinci Divizion |
| Neftchi Baku PFC | Baku | 6th |
| AZAL PFC Baku | Baku | 8th |
| PFC Turan Tovuz | Tovuz | 9th |
| Qäbälä PFC | Qäbälä | 5th |
| Simurq PFC | Zaqatala | 7th |
Stadia
| Stadium | Capacity | Club | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tofig Bakhramov Stadium | 29,858 | FK Baku | Biggest club stadium in Azerbaijan. First Azerbaijani Stadium to have floodlights. |
| Ismet Gaibov Stadium | 4,000 | Neftchi Baku | |
| Tovuz City Stadium | 6,394 | Turan Tovuz | |
| Zaqatala City Stadium | 3,500 | FK Simurq | |
| Lankaran City Stadium | 15,000 | Khazar Lankaran | The third biggest stadium in Azerbaijan. |
| Gabala City Stadium | 4,000 | FK Qäbälä | Capacity planned to increase to 15,000 by 2011 |
| Guzanli Olympic Stadium | 4,300 | FK Qarabağ | |
| Shehar Stadium | 25,000 | FK Gäncä | |
| MOIK Stadium | 1,000 | MOIK Baku | |
| Shafa Stadium | 8,152 | Inter Baku | First purpose built all seater stadium in the country. |
| Shafa Stadium | 8,152 | AZAL | |
| Salyany Olympic Stadium | 3,000 | FK Mughan |
Soviet time champions
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Champions and top scorers
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | 3rd position | Top scorer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Khazar Sumgayit | PFC Turan Tovuz | Nazim Aliyev (FK Khazar Sumgayit, 39 goals) |
| 1993 | FK Qarabağ | FK Khazar Sumgayit | PFC Turan Tovuz | Samir Alakbarov (Neftchi Baku PFC, 16 goals) |
| 1993-94 | PFC Turan Tovuz | FK Qarabağ | FC Kapaz | Musa Gurbanov (PFC Turan Tovuz, 35 goals) |
| 1994-95 | FC Kapaz | PFC Turan Tovuz | Neftchi Baku PFC | Nazim Aliyev (Neftchi Baku PFC, 27 goals) |
| 1995-96 | Neftchi Baku PFC | Khazri Buzovna | FC Kapaz | Nazim Aliyev (Neftchi Baku PFC/FK Qarabağ, 23 goals) |
| 1996-97 | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Qarabağ | Khazri Buzovna | Gurban Gurbanov (Neftchi Baku PFC, 25 goals) |
| 1997-98 | FC Kapaz | FK Baku | FK Shamkir | Nazim Aliyev (FK Baku, 23 goals) |
| 1998-99 | FC Kapaz | FK Shamkir | Neftchi Baku PFC | Alay Bahramov (FK Vilash Masalli, 24 goals) |
| 1999-00 | FK Shamkir | FC Kapaz | Neftchi Baku PFC | Badri Kvaratskhelia (FK Shamkir, 16 goals) |
| 2000-01 | FK Shamkir | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Vilash Masalli | Pasha Aliyev (Bakili Baku, 12 goals) |
| 2001-02 | FK Shamkir | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Qarabağ | Kanan Karimov (FK Gäncä, 14 goals) Dmitri Kudinov (FK Qarabağ, 14 goals) |
| 2002-03 | Due to conflict between almost all clubs and the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, no league championship was held.[18] | |||
| 2003-04 | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Shamkir | FK Qarabağ | Samir Musaev (FK Qarabağ, 20 goals) |
| 2004-05 | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Khazar Lankaran | FK Karvan | Zaur Ramazanov (FK Karvan, 21 goals) |
| 2005-06 | FK Baku | FK Karvan | Neftchi Baku PFC |  Yacouba Bamba (FK Karvan, 16 goals) |
| 2006-07 | FK Khazar Lankaran | Neftchi Baku PFC | FK Baku | Zaur Ramazanov (FK Khazar Lankaran, 20 goals) |
| 2007-08 | FC Inter Baku | AZAL | Neftchi Baku PFC | Khagani Mammadov (FC Inter Baku, 19 goals) |
| 2008-09 | FK Baku | FC Inter Baku | FK Simurq Zaqatala |  Walter Guglielmone (FC Inter Baku, 17 goals) |
| 2009-10 | FC Inter Baku | FK Baku | FK Qarabağ | Farid Guliev (Standard Baku, 16 goals) |
Performance by club
| Club | Winners | Winning Years |
|---|---|---|
| Neftchi Baku PFC |
|
1992, 1995–96, 1996-1997, 2003-2004, 2004-2005 |
| FK Gäncä |
|
1994-1995, 1997-1998, 1998–99 |
| FK Baku |
|
2005-06, 2008–09 |
| FC Inter Baku |
|
2007-2008, 2009-10 |
| FK Shamkir |
|
1999-2000, 2000-2001 |
| FK Qarabağ |
|
1993 |
| FK Khazar Lankaran |
|
2006-2007 |
| PFC Turan Tovuz |
|
1993-1994 |
UEFA Rankings
UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2009-10 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)
- 36
(35) 
Nemzeti Bajnokság I - 37
(38) Umaglesi Liga - 38 (41) Azerbaijan Premier League
- 39
(36) 
Úrvalsdeild - 40
(40) First Macedonian Football League
See also
- Sport in Azerbaijan
- Azerbaijan Cup
- Soviet Top League
- List of foreign Azerbaijan Premier League players
References
- ↑ Интер во второй раз в истории стал чемпионом Азербайджана (Russian)
- ↑ Premyer Liqada sensasiyalı sonluq. «İnter» çempion oldu! (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ "Qızıl xallar” prinsipinin ləğvi nə deməkdir?". Apasport.az. http://apasport.az/news.php?id=35719. Retrieved 13 July 2010. (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ "Исполком утвердил схему чемпионата, установив плату за легионеров". Azerisport.com. http://azerisport.com/football/20100713033644614.html. Retrieved 13 July 2010. (Russian)
- ↑ Unibank стал главным спонсором профессиональной футбольной лиги (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ Азербайджанский «Unibank» стал официальным спонсором Премьер-лиги (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ "Unibank has become general sponsor of Professional Football League". Azerbaijan Business Center. 24 September 2009. http://abc.az/eng/news/corporate/38603.html. Retrieved 25 September 2009.
- ↑ "Телехозяин" азербайджанского чемпионата (Russian)
- ↑ Снова АзТВ (Russian)
- ↑ Заключено соглашение, дающее право эксклюзивного показа матчей чемпионата и Кубка Азербайджана по футболу (Russian)
- ↑ Qurban Qurbanov yerini itirə bilər (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ Ekspress Newspaper (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ "Azeri title race hotting up". uefa.com. 2004-12-09. http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=266573.html=. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ↑ "Azerbaijan’s footballer to play in Holland’s Twente". news.az. 2009-12-28. http://www.news.az/articles/5652=. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
- ↑ Express newspaper (Azerbaijani)
- ↑ Махмуд Гурбанов: Это словно первое чемпионство (Russian)
- ↑ "NBC is renamed". AFFA. 31 October 2008. http://www.affa.az/index.php?r=1&id=2892&lang=en. Retrieved 10 March 2009.
- ↑ Azerbaijan 2002/03
External links
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