2011–12 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2011–12 Azerbaijan Premier League (known as the Unibank Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons) was the twentieth season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. Neftchi Baku was the defending champions, having won their second Azerbaijani championship the previous season.

Azerbaijan Premier League

Season	2011–12
Champions	Neftchi (7th title)
Champions League	Neftchi
Europa League	Baku Khazar Inter Baku
Matches played	192
Goals scored	448 (2.33 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bahodir Nasimov (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Neftchi 7-1 AZAL
Biggest away win	Ravan 0-4 Gabala
Highest scoring	AZAL 6-3 Sumgayit
Highest attendance	15,000[1] Kəpəz 3–1 AZAL
Lowest attendance	300[2] FK Baku 0–3 Kəpəz FK Baku 3–2 Ravan
Average attendance	3,581[2]
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

The twelve teams participating in the league included the ten sides remaining from the 2010–11 season, one promoted club from the 2010–11 Azerbaijan First Division and a totally new club instead of the defunct First Division champions FC Absheron.^[3] The format of the league was the same as in the 2010–11 season.

There is only one change in season's regulation as only champion of 2011–12 Azerbaijan First Division was directly promoted, while runners up of first division played play-off game with the team that finished 11th in Azerbaijan Premier League.^[3]

Teams

MOIK Baku were relegated to the Azerbaijan First Division after finishing 12th and last, at the end of last season. They were replaced by First Division champions FC Absheron and runners-up Ravan Baku. However, due sponsorship problems Absheron became defunct and replaced by Sumgayit City F.C.^[4]

On 31 May 2011, it was announced that FK Ganja changed their name to FC Kəpəz.^[5] On 18 July 2011, FK Mughan also ruled out to participate in this season due sponsorship reasons and replaced by Simurq PFC.^[6][7]

Stadia and locations

AZAL
FK Baku
Inter
Neftchi
Ravan

Sumgayit

Kəpəz

Khazar

Simurq

Qarabağ

Gabala

Turan

Location of teams in 2011-12 Azerbaijan Premier League

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity[8]
AZAL	Baku	AZAL Stadium	3,000
FK Baku	Baku	Tofig Bahramov Stadium	30,000
Gabala	Gabala	Gabala City Stadium	2,000
Inter	Baku	Shafa Stadium	8,150
Kəpəz	Ganja	Ganja City Stadium	25,000
Khazar	Lankaran	Lankaran City Stadium	15,000
Neftchi	Baku	Tofig Bahramov Stadium	30,000
Qarabağ	Aghdam	Guzanli Olympic Stadium	2,000
Ravan Baku	Baku	Dalga Arena	6,500
Simurq	Zaqatala	Zaqatala City Stadium	3,500
Sumgayit	Sumqayit	Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium	16,000
Turan	Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	6,800

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Team captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AZAL	Vagif Sadygov	Agil Nabiyev	Umbro	Silk Way
FC Baku	Novruz Azimov	Jamshid Maharramov	Macron
Gabala	Fatih Kavlak	Mahir Shukurov	Erreà	Hyundai
Inter	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	Vladimir Levin	Umbro	IBA
Kəpəz	Fuad Ismayilov	Azer Mammadov	Adidas	Nakhchivan Car Factory
Khazar	Yunis Hüseynov	Rahid Amirguliev	Puma	Palmali
Neftchi	Boyukagha Hajiyev	Rail Malikov	Adidas	SOCAR
Qarabağ	Gurban Gurbanov	Rashad Sadigov	Kappa	Azersun
Ravan Baku	Bahman Hasanov	Miloš Zečević	Legea	Nissan
Simurq	Giorgi Chikhradze	Rasim Ramaldanov	Kappa
Sumgayit	Bernhard Raab	Samir Abbasov	Kappa	Azerkimya
Turan	Asgar Abdullayev	Aftandil Hajiyev	Kappa	SivArt TV PLUS

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
AZAL	Nazim Suleymanov	Resigned	7 July 2011[9]	Pre-season	Elkhan Abdullayev	12 July 2011[10]
Neftchi	Arif Asadov	Resigned	29 July 2011[11]	Pre-season	Boyukagha Hajiyev	2 August 2011[12]
Ravan Baku	Bahman Hasanov	Resigned	20 September 2011[13]	11th	Vladislav Kadyrov	20 September 2011[13]
AZAL	Elkhan Abdullayev	Resigned	31 October 2011[14]	10th	Rafig Mirzayev	1 November 2011
Gabala	Tony Adams	Resigned	16 November 2011[15]	6th	Fatih Kavlak	16 November 2011[16]
Kapaz	Mehman Allahverdiyev	Resigned	21 November 2011[17]	10th	Mirbaghir Isayev	21 November 2011[18]
Khazar Lankaran	Mircea Rednic	Sacked	4 December 2011[19]	3rd	Cüneyt Biçer	5 December 2011[20]
Kapaz	Mirbaghir Isayev	Resigned	24 December 2011[21]	10th	Fuad Ismayilov	1 January 2012[22]
Ravan Baku	Vladislav Kadyrov	Sacked	5 February 2012[23]	8th	Bahman Hasanov	6 February 2012[23]
Simurq	Sergey Yuran	Mutually terminated	5 March 2012[24]	10th	Igor Getman	5 March 2012[24]
Simurq	Igor Getman	End of tenure as caretaker	11 March 2012[25]	10th	Giorgi Chikhradze	11 March 2012[25]
FC Baku	Aleksandrs Starkovs	Mutually terminated	11 March 2012[26]	5th	Novruz Azimov	11 March 2012[26]
Khazar Lankaran	Cüneyt Biçer	Sacked	15 March 2012[27]	4th	Yunis Hüseynov	15 March 2012[28]
AZAL	Rafig Mirzayev	Mutually terminated	2 April 2012[29]	7th	Mais Azimov	2 April 2012[29]
AZAL	Mais Azimov	End of tenure as caretaker	6 April 2012[30]	7th	Vagif Sadygov	6 April 2012[30]

Season events

Inter Baku scandal

On 21 August 2011, Inter Baku - FK Baku game was suspended during last minutes due referee scandal, therefore game's fate decided after Professional Football League of Azerbaijan's decision.^[31][32] On 23 August 2011, PFL awarded 3-0 technical victory to FK Baku and announced the following punishments were given to Inter Baku's individuals:

• Georgi Nikolov, club's chairman: 5 game ban from football and fined 5,000 AZN.
• Kakhaber Tskhadadze: fined 1,000 AZN.
• Giorgi Lomaia: 2 game ban and fined 2,000 AZN.

Furthermore, Inter Baku fined additional 13,000 AZN for breaching security regulations.^[33][34]

Khazar Lankaran and Turan controversy

On 6 August 2011, the Disciplinary Committee of AFFA imposed the punishment on the scandal that took place in two matches. Khazar Lankaran fined 10,000 AZN after club's fans threw alien objects to the court, injuring the head of Inter Baku's coach Kakhaber Tskhadadze. Khazar also must play its next two league home matches in an empty stadium because of its fans' aggressive behavior.^[35]

AFFA fined Turan Tovuz 26,000 AZN and moved its next two league home matches on a neutral ground for injuring referees, breaking PFL camera as well as for refusing to play at the second half of 2011–12 Azerbaijan Cup.^[35][36] The club's president Musa Suleymanov has been disqualified for five matches and club received technical defeat of 0-3.^[37]

First round

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Neftçi Baku	22	16	1	5	45	17	+28	49	Qualification for championship group
2	Inter Baku	22	13	6	3	21	10	+11	45
3	Khazar Lankaran	22	13	5	4	33	19	+14	44
4	Qarabağ	22	12	5	5	27	14	+13	41
5	Baku	22	10	5	7	27	22	+5	35
6	Gabala	22	10	5	7	27	23	+4	35
7	AZAL	22	8	5	9	35	35	0	29	Qualification for relegation group
8	Ravan Baku	22	6	7	9	23	29	−6	25
9	Kapaz	22	6	4	12	26	38	−12	22
10	Simurq	22	5	4	13	18	34	−16	19
11	Sumgayit	22	4	3	15	16	37	−21	15
12	Turan	22	3	2	17	13	33	−20	11

Source: Soccerway: Azerbaijan Premier League Table
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	AZL	BAK	KAP	INT	KHA	SIM	NEF	QAR	GAB	RAV	SUM	TUR
AZAL		1–0	2–0	1–1	0–3	5–1	3–1	1–3	3–0	1–2	6–3	3–2
Baku	0–0		0–3	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–3	0–3	2–1	3–2	1–0	5–0
Kapaz	3–1	1–3		0–1	1–4	2–0	1–1	1–2	3–2	3–2	1–1	1–1
Inter Baku	1–1	0–3	0–0		1–0	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0
Khazar Lankaran	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–1		1–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	3–1
Simurq	0–3	0–2	4–2	0–2	2–2		1–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	2–1
Neftçi Baku	7–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	5–0	4–2		3–2	2–0	1–0	4–0	1–0
Qarabağ	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–2		0–1	2–0	1–2	3–1
Gabala	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–2	1–0	0–0		2–3	3–1	2–1
Ravan Baku	3–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–4		0–0	2–1
Sumgayit	2–1	0–1	4–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	0–3	0–0	1–2	0–1		1–0
Turan	0–0	0–2	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second round

Championship group

The top six teams of the first phase participate in this group, which will decide which team will win the championship. Additionally, teams in this group compete for one 2012–13 Champions League and two Europa League spots.

The winners will qualify for the Champions League Second qualifying round, with the runners-up and third place team earning a spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Neftçi Baku (C)	32	20	3	9	55	30	+25	63	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Khazar Lankaran	32	17	8	7	44	28	+16	59	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Inter Baku	32	16	8	8	29	21	+8	56
4	Qarabağ	32	15	8	9	37	28	+9	53
5	Gabala	32	15	7	10	43	32	+11	52
6	Baku	32	15	5	12	42	37	+5	50	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[a]

Source: Soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Baku qualified for the first qualifiying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League as winner of the 2011–12 Azerbaijan Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	BAK	INT	KHA	NEF	QAR	GAB
Baku		0–1	4–1	2–0	1–2	2–1
Inter Baku	1–0		0–0	1–2	1–1	2–1
Khazar Lankaran	0–1	2–0		1–0	4–1	1–1
Neftçi Baku	2–1	2–1	1–1		2–1	0–1
Qarabağ	2–4	1–0	1–0	0–0		1–1
Gabala	4–0	2–1	0–1	4–1	1–0

Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation group

The bottom six teams of the first phase will determine the teams to be relegated to the 2012–13 Azerbaijan First Division. The bottom team of this group will be directly relegated, while the fifth-placed team will have to compete in relegation/promotion playoffs with the second-placed teams of the 2011–12 Azerbaijan First Division. On April 30, due decision of Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, no clubs from Azerbaijan First Division will be promoted which means all clubs from this season will be remaining in the league.^[38]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	AZAL	32	12	8	12	44	44	0	44
8	Ravan Baku	32	10	11	11	39	39	0	41
9	Simurq	32	8	10	14	27	41	−14	34
10	Kapaz	32	9	5	18	35	55	−20	32
11	Turan (R)	32	6	7	19	26	42	−16	25	Qualification for relegation playoffs
12	Sumgayit (R)	32	6	6	20	27	52	−25	24	Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division

Source: Soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AZL	KAP	RAV	SIM	SUM	TUR
AZAL		2–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0
Kapaz	0–2		1–0	0–1	4–1	2–1
Ravan Baku	2–0	5–1		0–0	3–2	2–2
Simurq	1–2	1–1	1–1		2–1	1–1
Sumgayit	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–2		1–1
Turan	3–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–1

Source: Soccerway.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 11 May 2012

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bahodir Nasimov	16	Neftchi
2	Yuriy Fomenko	11	Kapaz
3	Tales Schutz	10	AZAL
	Flavinho	10	Neftchi
	Zouhir Benouahi	10	AZAL
4	Dodô	9	Gabala
5	Robertas Poškus	8	Simurq
	Branimir Subašić	8	Khazar Lankaran
	Yannick Kamanan	8	Gabala

Last updated: 11 May 2012
Source: Azerbaijan Premier League

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Bahodir Nasimov	Neftchi Baku	AZAL	7–1[39]	11 December 2011
Deividas Česnauskis	FK Baku	Khazar Lankaran	4–1[40]	14 April 2012

Scoring

• First goal of the season: John Pelu for Ravan Baku against Kəpəz (6 August 2011)
• Fastest goal of the season: 1st minute,
  • Shahin Karimov for Kəpəz against AZAL (11 September 2011)^[41]
  • Dejan Rusič for Khazar Lankaran against Kəpəz (16 December 2011)^[42]
• Latest goal of the season: 90+4 minutes,
  • Ramazan Abbasov for Ravan Baku against Simurq (19 August 2011)^[43]
  • Akif Taghiyev for Turan Tovuz against Simurq (25 August 2012)^[44]
• Largest winning margin: 6 goals
  • Neftchi Baku 7–1 AZAL(11 December 2012)^[45]
• Highest scoring game: 9 goals
  • AZAL 6–3 Sumgayit(7 March 2012)^[46]
• Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 7 goals
  • Neftchi Baku 7–1 AZAL(11 December 2012)^{[45][failed verification]}
• Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals
  • AZAL 6–3 Sumgayit(7 March 2012)^{[46][failed verification]}

Clean sheets

• Most clean sheets: 17
  • Inter Baku
• Fewest clean sheets: 4
  • Kəpəz

Discipline

• Most yellow cards (club): 82
  • AZAL
• Most yellow cards (player): 12
  • Vidas Alunderis (Simurq)
• Most red cards (club): 7
  • Inter Baku
  • Ravan Baku
  • Kəpəz
• Most red cards (player): 3
  • Tagim Novruzov (Ravan Baku)

^[47]

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Azerbaijan Professional Football League Awards
	Player	Club
August	Ceyhun Sultanov	Kəpəz[48]
September	Rashad Abdullayev	Neftchi
October	Winston Parks	Baku[49]
November	Flavinho	Neftchi[49]
December	Bachana Tskhadadze	Inter Baku
February	Afran Ismayilov	Qarabağ
March	Yannick Kamanan	Gabala
April	Deividas Česnauskis	Baku
May	Eder Bonfim	Khazar

Annual awards

Award	PFL Seasonal Awards[50]
	Player	Club
Best Goalkeeper	Kamran Agayev	Khazar
Best Defender	Ruslan Abishov	Khazar
Best Midfielder	Adrian Piț	Khazar
Best Forward	Rauf Aliyev	Qarabağ
Player of the Year	Flavinho	Neftchi
Young Player of the Year	Nurlan Novruzov	Baku
Manager of the Year	Boyukagha Hajiyev	Neftchi

See also

• 2011–12 Azerbaijan First Division
• 2011–12 Azerbaijan Cup
• List of Azerbaijan football transfers summer 2011
• List of Azerbaijan football transfers winter 2012