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

Azerbaijan

General Information

As of July 2025, Azerbaijan held the 122nd place in the official FIFA ranking. The national team of Azerbaijan played its first match on September 17, 1992 against Georgia (3:6), and achieved its biggest victories on July 5, 1999 against Liechtenstein (4:0) and on September 4, 2017 against San Marino (5:1). The team's 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 coaching staff of Azerbaijan can count on 24 players.

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

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

Midfielders: Ozan Ceku (“Volendam”, Netherlands), Sabuhu Abdulzadeh (“Sumgayit”), Anatoly Nuriyev, Khayal Aliyev (both — “Sabah”), Emin Mahmudov (“Neftchi”), Shahin Shahriyarov (“Gabalakh”), Kismet Aliyev, Jeyhun Nuriyev, Ismail Ibrahimli (all — “Zira”), Toral Bayramov, Nariman Ahundzade (both — “Karabakh”).

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

Head Coach

On September 8, the Football Federation of Azerbaijan relieved the head coach of the national team — Portuguese Fernando Santosh.

“The contract between the FFA leadership and the Portuguese specialist was terminated by mutual agreement. The team will be led by the assistant coach of the youth squad, Ayhan Abbasov,” announced the organization.

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

“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 “Neftchi.” 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 “Neftchi” (205 matches, 45 goals). With the latter, he won the Azerbaijan championship in 2020/2021.

Mahmudov always plays as a central midfielder. He is very strong at ball recovery and executing set pieces. He makes significant contributions to his team's defense. He loves to play long passes. His opponents often foul him, which gives his teams advantageous set-piece situations. Weaknesses — playing on the second line and finishing in attack.