Azerbaijan national football team

Infobox national football team
Name = Azerbaijan
Badge = Azerbaijan football federation.png FIFA Trigramme = AZE
Nickname = " _az. Odlar Yurdu"
(Country of Fire)
Association =

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pattern_name1 = Home (left) and Away (right) |
First game = fb|Georgia 1–1 fb-rt|Azerbaijan
(Tbilisi, Georgia, 1927) [http://www.eloratings.net/Azerbaijan.htm World Football Elo Ratings: Azerbaijan] ]
fb|Georgia|1990 6–3 fb-rt|Azerbaijan
(Gurjaani, Georgia; September 17, 1992)
Largest win = fb|Azerbaijan 4–0 fb-rt|Liechtenstein
(Baku, Azerbaijan; June 5, 1999)
Largest loss = fb|France 10–0 fb-rt|Azerbaijan
(Auxerre, France; September 6, 1995)
no World cup apps = none
Regional name = European Championship
no Regional cup apps = noneThe Azerbaijan national football team is the national football team of Azerbaijan and is controlled by Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan. It represents Azerbaijan in international football competitions.

The Azerbaijan national football team has attempted to qualify for each major tournament from Euro 96 onwards, but has never achieved to take part in finals tournament of the World Cup, or the European Championships.

Berti Vogts was appointed as a manager of Azerbaijan on a two-year contract on April 2008. He says his priority won't be World Cup qualification, but creating new structures and a real game. He will start everything from zero.

Early history

* First Azerbaijani football clubs started to function in 1905. Generally they represented the main oil companies of Baku.
* The Azerbaijan national football team held her first friendly matches against Georgia in 1927 for the Trans-Caucasian Championship in Georgia.
* During the Soviet Era the team did not play any international matches

Modern History

After Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991, AFFA — Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan — was created. In 1992, renowned Azerbaijani footballer Alekper Mamedov became the first head coach of the Azeribaijani national football team, compiling a 3–1 record as coach that includes the first ever national team victory, over Georgia on May 25, 1993.cite web
last = Ibragimov
first = Erkin
title = History >> 1992
publisher = AzeriFootball.com
date =
url = http://www.azerifootball.com/contents/default.aspx?lg=2&idpt=1992
accessdate = 2008-07-03 ] cite web
last = Ibragimov
first = Erkin
title = History >> 1993
publisher = AzeriFootball.com
date =
url = http://www.azerifootball.com/contents/default.aspx?lg=2&idpt=1993
accessdate = 2008-07-03 ] In 1994, the national team was accepted into FIFA and UEFA.

Because of security issues, the team played all of its home Euro 96 qualifers in Trabzon, Turkey.cite web
last = Stokkermans
first = Karel
title = European Championship 1996
publisher = Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
date = 2000-01-18
url = http://www.rsssf.com/tables/96e.html
accessdate = 2008-07-07 ]

In February 2004, Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of the Brazil team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup was appointed its national coach. Despite a poor start, a 0–6 defeat to Israel on February 18, Azerbaijan won their first ever away match, 3–2 against Kazakhstan on April 28. In June 2005, following a 3–0 defeat by Poland, Torres stood down from the position, to be replaced by former Neftchi coach Vagif Sadykhov, his third spell as coach of Azerbaijan. Shakhin Diniyev took over as manager in November 2005. He resigned on 31 October 2007, and Gjoko Hadzievski was named as care-taking coach of Azerbaijan. [ [http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/index.html Euro 2008 homepage] , "UEFA"]

In April 2008 famous German football player and coach Berti Vogts was appointed as a manager of Azerbaijan on a two-year contract. [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/worldcup/news/kind=1/newsid=680090.html FIFA World Cup News and Features] , "UEFA"]

World Cup record

* 1930 to 1994 — "Did not enter, was part of the USSR"
* 1998 to 2006 — "Did not qualify"

World Cup 2010

Azerbaijan have been drawn alongside Germany, Russia, Wales, Finland and Liechtenstein in Group 4 and kicked off their qualifying campaign playing away to Wales on 6 September. Vogts replaces Gjoko Hadžievski who was dismissed after the Azeris failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2008. Vogts has said that the qualifying group is difficult, stating that "We want to learn some things from Germany and try to upset Russia." [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iX9AG6ALBoCGz9JGKAK1cSFHUPQQ German Vogts named as new Azerbaijan coach] , "Agence France Presse"]

European Championship record

* 1960 to 1992 — "Did not enter, was part of the USSR"
* 1996 to 2008 — "Did not qualify"

Euro 2008 qualifications

Azerbaijan was competing in Group A in qualification for UEFA Euro 2008, together with Portugal, Poland, Serbia, Belgium, Armenia, Finland and Kazakhstan.

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Wales and Liechtenstein [az icon [http://www.affa.az/index.php?r=20&lang=az National team] on AFFA] [en icon [http://www.affa.az/index.php?r=20&lang=en National team] on AFFA]

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Other recent call ups

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Famous players

*Emin Agaev
*Tarlan Akhmedov
*Gurban Gurbanov
*Farrukh Ismaïlov
*Rashad Sadygov
*Nazim Suleimanov

Most appearances (caps)

References

External links

* [http://www.affa.az/?lg=en Azerbaycan Futbol Federasiyaları Assosiasiyası]
* [http://www.azerifootball.com azerifootball.com] ru icon
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesa/azer-intres.html Archive of international results 1979–2004] from Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
* [http://www.uefa.com/competitions/WorldCup/news/Kind=1/newsId=173352.html UEFA match report on the first away win]
* [http://www.azerisport.com/ Azerisport]
* [http://www.day.az/news/football Day.az]