Azerbaijan’s National Football Team Gets New Leader

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) announced the name of the new head coach for the country’s national football (soccer) team on Friday who will fill the post that has been left vacant, after Croatian manager Robert Prosinecki submitted his resignation last week.

Gurban Gurbanov, a 45-year-old former national player and current manager of Azerbaijan’s Qarabag FK football club, came on board with Azerbaijan’s national team based on a six-year contract.

"I know it is a very responsible job [and] all eyes are on the national team,” Gurbanov told media during a press conference following the contract signing at the Baku Olympic Stadium, according to APA Sport.

“We will try to achieve better results with AFFA. Our plans will be long. We have to move gradually forward so that the national team becomes more professional,” Gurbanov said.

Gurbanov’s stint with the national football team will kick off in December, right after Prosinecki’s contract comes to an end. Gurbanov will train both the national squad and Qarabag FK at the same time according to an agreement between him and AFFA. His debut on the field with the national team will take place in March of 2018.

Azerbaijan’s national team failed to qualify for the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Russia next summer, with Prosinecki at its helm. Prosinecki steered the squad for three years, from 2014 through 2017, but on October 27 he stepped down.

Gurbanov is considered the most successful Azerbaijani football team manager in the country. Leading the Qarabag team, he steered its players to reach the group stage of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League for the first time. He is also the only football club manager in Azerbaijan to have played four times consecutively at the UEFA Europa League.