Today, on September 9 in Baku, the Ukraine national team will play a match against Azerbaijan as part of World Cup 2026 qualification. We present our opponent. 

Azerbaijan

General Information

As of July 2025, Azerbaijan held the 122nd place in FIFA's official ranking. The national team of Azerbaijan played its first match on September 17, 1992 against Georgia (3:6), and achieved their biggest victories on July 5, 1999 against Liechtenstein (4:0) and September 4, 2017 against San Marino (5:1). Their worst defeat was on September 6, 1995 against France (1:10). Nickname: Milli (National).

The Azerbaijan national team has never qualified for the finals of the World Cup or European Championships in its history.

Squad 

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup qualifier against Ukraine, the Azerbaijan coaching staff can rely on 24 players.

Goalkeepers: Shahruddin Magomedaliyev (“Karabakh”), Rza Jafarov (“Neftci”), Aydin Bayramov (“Zira”).

Defenders: Jalal Guseynov (“Arda Kirklareli”, Bulgaria), Anton Krivoczuk (“Tajon Khan Citizens”, South Korea), Elvin Jafarguliyev, Bahlu Mustafazade, Abbas Guseynov (all — “Karabakh”), Rahman Dashdamirov (“Sabah”), Elvin Badalov (“Neftci”).

Midfielders: Ozan Kekcu (“Volendam”, Netherlands), Sabuhi Abdullazade (“Sumgait”), Anatoly Nuriyev, Khayal Aliyev (both — “Sabah”), Emin Mahmudov (“Neftci”), Shahin Shahriyarov (“Gabala”), Kismet Aliyev, Djeyhun Nuriyev, Ismail Ibrahimli (all — “Zira”), Toral Bayramov, Nariman Ahundzade (both — “Karabakh”).

Forwards: Renat Dadashov (“Motor Lublin”, Poland), Mahir Emreli (“Kaiserslautern”, Germany), Musa Gurbaneli (“Karabakh”).

Head Coach

On September 8, the Football Federation of Azerbaijan released head coach Fernando Santosh.

“The contract between the FFA leadership and the Portuguese specialist was terminated by mutual agreement. The team will be led by the youth national team coach Ayhan Abbasov at the match against Ukraine,” announced the organization.

However, Rashad Eyubov, one of the coaches, represented the national team of Azerbaijan at the traditional pre-match press conference.

“We trained according to plan. Our goal was to psychologically prepare the team in a short period of time. Football is a team game, and we must work as a team. I believe that we have the strength and quality to achieve a positive result,” Eyubov stated.

Leader

The undisputed leader of today's Azerbaijan national team is its captain — midfielder Emin Mahmudov of Baku’s “Neftci.” The 33-year-old midfielder has played 53 matches for the national team, scoring 14 goals. Along with Gurban Gurbanov, he leads the list of top scorers in Azerbaijan's history.

Mahmudov’s career highlights include Portuguese “Boavista” (12 matches, 1 goal) and Baku’s “Neftci” (205 matches, 45 goals). With the latter club, he won the Azerbaijan championship in 2020/2021.

Mahmudov always plays as a central midfielder. He is very strong at ball recovery and set pieces. He makes a significant contribution to his team's defense. Loves to play long passes. His opponents often foul him, which gives his teams advantageous set-piece opportunities. Weaknesses — second phase play and finishing in attack.