AZE.US
Azerbaijan’s national football problems should not be blamed primarily on the head coach, journalist Vugar Vugarli said, arguing that the deeper failure lies in the structure of the domestic game and the lack of local players receiving regular match practice.
In a video commentary, Vugarli contrasted Azerbaijan’s struggling “big football” with the country’s minifootball team, which he said has managed to deliver strong results despite the smaller format of the sport.
“We have talked about our minifootball. Although it is mini, it produces maximum results,” Vugarli said. “But our big football cannot even produce mini-results.”
He said the repeated change of coaches has not addressed the root cause of the problem.
Foreign and local specialists have worked with the national team over the years, Vugarli said, including coaches from outside Azerbaijan as well as domestic figures such as Gurban Gurbanov and Aykhan Abbasov. But the results have not changed in any fundamental way.
According to Vugarli, the real issue is that Azerbaijan’s Premier League does not provide enough playing time for Azerbaijani footballers.
He linked the problem to the removal of the limit on foreign players, saying clubs now rely heavily on legionnaires while local players often remain marginal in starting lineups.
“In every Premier League club, there are at most two Azerbaijani players in the main lineup,” Vugarli said. “Even in Qarabag, Azerbaijani players are almost absent from the starting lineup, usually one or two.”
He said that leaves the national team coach with an extremely limited pool.
If there are 12 clubs in the domestic league and each uses around two Azerbaijani players regularly, the national team is effectively being selected from about 24 players, he said.
“The coach is not choosing from 200 players, not from 100, not even from 50,” Vugarli said. “He is choosing from 24. If the player is healthy, has no fever and no injury, he can be called up to the national team.”
Vugarli said it is unfair to place the full burden on Abbasov or previous national team coaches when the system itself does not produce enough competitive players.
“What do you want from Aykhan Abbasov? What do you want from the previous coaches?” he said. “Ask AFFA.”
Vugarli also criticized parts of the football media, saying some journalists attack the national team and its coaches but avoid asking difficult questions of the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan.
He suggested that some people in the football environment are reluctant to challenge AFFA because they depend on access or support from the federation.
“If you cannot ask AFFA, then do not criticize the national team and do not criticize Aykhan Abbasov,” Vugarli said.
His comments reflect a wider frustration over Azerbaijani football, where public debate often focuses on coaching appointments while deeper questions about youth development, club policy and federation management remain unresolved.
Vugarli said the national team’s problems will continue as long as Azerbaijani clubs do not give enough regular playing time to domestic footballers.
The issue, he argued, is not only about who stands on the touchline.
It is about whether the country’s football system is producing enough players for any coach to build a competitive team.
AZE.US