2012–13 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2012–13 Azerbaijan Premier League was the twenty-first season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 4 August 2012 and finished on 20 May 2013. Neftchi Baku, the champions from the previous season, defended their title.

Azerbaijan Premier League

Season	2012–13
Champions	Neftchi (8th title)
Relegated	Kəpəz, Turan
Champions League	Neftchi
Europa League	Qarabağ Khazar Inter Baku
Matches played	192
Goals scored	467 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Nicolás Canales (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Neftchi 8–1 Sumgayit
Biggest away win	Sumgayit 1–6 Qarabağ
Highest scoring	Neftchi 8–1 Sumgayit (9 goals)
Longest winning run	5 games Neftchi, Qarabağ
Longest unbeaten run	11 games Qarabağ
Longest losing run	9 games Kəpəz
Highest attendance	11,000 Khazar 2–3 Inter (12 February 2013)[1]
Lowest attendance	30 Turan 0–2 Azal (20 October 2012)[2]
Average attendance	5,462
← 2011–12 2013–14 →

Teams

AZAL
Baku
Inter
Neftchi
Ravan

Sumgayit

Kəpəz

Khazar

Simurq

Qarabağ

Gabala

Turan

Location of teams in 2012–13 Azerbaijan Premier League

A total of 12 teams contested the league, including all 12 sides from the 2011–12 season, as no teams were promoted from the 2011–12 Azerbaijan First Division.^[3]

On 10 April 2012, FK Qaradağ sealed promotion to the league after winning the first division.^[4] However, due to a decision by AFFA about licensing, no clubs were promoted which meant all clubs from the previous season remained in the league.^[5][6]

Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Venue	Capacity[7]
AZAL	Baku	AZAL Stadium	3,000
Baku	Baku	FC Baku's Training Base	2,000
Gabala	Gabala	Gabala City Stadium	4,000
Inter	Baku	Shafa Stadium	8,000
Kəpəz	Ganja	Ganja City Stadium	25,000
Khazar	Lankaran	Lankaran City Stadium	15,000
Neftchi	Baku	Bakcell Arena	11,000
Qarabağ	Baku	Tofig Bahramov Stadium	31,200
Ravan Baku	Baku	Bayil Stadium	5,000
Simurq	Zaqatala	Zaqatala City Stadium	3,500
Sumgayit	Sumqayit	Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium	16,000
Turan	Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	6,800

Personnel and sponsoring

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Team captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
AZAL	Vagif Sadygov	Jahangir Hasanzade	Umbro	Silk Way
Baku	Božidar Bandović	Elvin Mammadov	Macron
Gabala	Luis Aragón (caretaker)	Vurğun Hüseynov	Erreà	Hyundai
Inter Baku	Kakhaber Tskhadadze	Vladimir Levin	Umbro	IBA
Kəpəz	Mahmud Gurbanov	Khayal Zeynalov	Adidas	Nakhchivan Car Factory
Khazar	John Toshack	Rahid Amirguliyev	Puma	Palmali
Neftchi Baku	Boyukagha Hajiyev	Rashad Sadigov	Adidas	SOCAR
Qarabağ	Gurban Gurbanov	Rashad Sadygov	Adidas	Azersun
Ravan Baku	Ramil Aliyev	Tural Akhundov	Legea	NBC Bank
Simurq	Giorgi Chikhradze	Rasim Ramaldanov	Umbro
Sumgayit	Bernhard Raab	Samir Abbasov	Umbro	Azerkimya
Turan	Afghan Talybov	Hafiz Aliyev	Umbro	Bank of Azerbaijan

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ravan Baku	Bahman Hasanov	Sacked	8 June 2012[8]	Pre-season	Cevat Güler	12 July 2011[8]
Baku	Novruz Azimov		19 July 2012[9]		Božidar Bandović	19 July 2012[9]
Kəpəz	Fuad Ismayilov	Resigned	19 August 2012[10]	12th	Mahmud Gurbanov	19 August 2012[10]
Ravan Baku	Cevat Güler	Sacked	25 August 2012[11]	8th	Bahman Hasanov	25 August 2012
Ravan Baku	Bahman Hasanov	End of tenure as caretaker	24 September 2012[12]	11th	Kemal Alispahić	24 September 2012[12]
Gabala	Fatih Kavlak	Sacked	24 September 2012[13]	5th	Ramiz Mammadov	24 September 2012[14]
Turan	Asgar Abdullayev	Resigned	12 October 2012[15]	10th	Afghan Talybov	12 October 2012[15]
Khazar	Yunis Huseynov		31 October 2012[16]	7th	Erik Roqueta Capilla (caretaker)	1 November 2012
Khazar	Erik Roqueta Capilla	End of tenure as caretaker	14 November 2012	4th	Carles Martorell Baqués	14 November 2012[17]
Ravan Baku	Kemal Alispahić	Sacked	21 December 2012	11th	Ramil Aliyev	21 December 2012
Khazar	Carles Martorell Baqués	Resigned	26 February 2013[18]	7th	John Toshack	8 March 2013[19]
Gabala	Ramiz Mammadov	Sacked	2 April 2013[20]	6th	Luis Aragón (caretaker)	2 April 2013

First round

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Neftçi Baku	22	14	2	6	47	24	+23	44	Qualification for championship group
2	Inter Baku	22	11	8	3	24	12	+12	41
3	Qarabağ	22	10	9	3	30	19	+11	39
4	Simurq	22	9	9	4	25	15	+10	36
5	Gabala	22	9	5	8	26	27	−1	32
6	Baku	22	6	12	4	24	15	+9	30
7	AZAL	22	7	8	7	32	25	+7	29	Qualification for relegation group
8	Khazar Lankaran	22	7	7	8	32	27	+5	28
9	Turan	22	6	5	11	24	35	−11	23
10	Sumgayit	22	5	7	10	20	39	−19	22
11	Ravan Baku	22	6	4	12	23	36	−13	22
12	Kapaz	22	2	4	16	12	45	−33	10

Source: Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan and Soccerway.com
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		2–1	3–0	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	6–2	6–1	3–1	1–1	0–0
Baku	2–0		3–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1
Kapaz	0–2	0–0		0–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–2
Inter Baku	0–0	1–0	3–1		0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–0
Khazar Lankaran	1–2	1–1	4–0	2–3		0–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	4–0	2–2	4–2
Simurq	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	2–2		0–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–0	3–0
Neftçi Baku	4–2	1–1	4–1	2–0	2–1	2–1		0–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	2–1
Qarabağ	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–0		1–2	0–0	3–0	1–1
Gabala	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	1–1		1–3	4–1	0–1
Ravan Baku	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–3	1–3		2–3	2–0
Sumgayit	2–2	1–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	3–2	1–6	0–1	0–1		0–1
Turan	1–0	0–4	5–1	2–3	2–1	1–1	2–3	0–1	0–2	2–2	0–1

Source: Soccerway: Azerbaijan Premier League Table
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 2013–14 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
1	Neftçi Baku (C)	32	19	5	8	59	32	+27	62	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Qarabağ	32	16	11	5	43	26	+17	59	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
3	Inter Baku	32	16	9	7	38	22	+16	57
4	Simurq	32	12	12	8	32	26	+6	48
5	Baku	32	9	14	9	33	27	+6	41
6	Gabala	32	10	8	14	32	40	−8	38

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

Results

Home \ Away	BAK	GAB	INT	NEF	QAR	SIM
Baku		0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	2–1
Gabala	1–1		1–2	1–1	0–2	1–1
Inter Baku	2–1	1–0		0–1	0–0	5–0
Neftçi Baku	0–1	2–1	2–0		1–2	1–1
Qarabağ	3–1	1–0	3–2	1–2		0–0
Simurq	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	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 2013–14 Azerbaijan First Division. The two teams who finish in 11th and 12th position will be relegated to the 2013–14 Azerbaijan First Division.^[21]

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	AZAL	32	16	9	7	57	32	+25	57
8	Khazar Lankaran	32	10	10	12	40	37	+3	40	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round[a]
9	Ravan Baku	32	12	4	16	46	53	−7	40
10	Sumgayit	32	9	8	15	31	49	−18	35
11	Turan (R)	32	8	6	18	34	59	−25	30	Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division
12	Kapaz (R)	32	5	4	23	22	64	−42	19

Source: Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Khazar Lankaran qualified for the first qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League as winner of the 2012–13 Azerbaijan Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	AZL	KAP	KHA	RAV	SUM	TUR
AZAL		4–0	2–0	3–2	1–0	2–0
Kapaz	1–3		1–2	3–1	1–0	0–1
Khazar Lankaran	1–1	1–0		1–2	0–0	1–0
Ravan Baku	3–5	3–0	1–0		3–0	1–0
Sumgayit	0–2	1–0	1–0	4–1		4–0
Turan	0–2	3–5	2–2	2–6	2–1

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

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 14 May 2013

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Nicolás Canales	Neftchi Baku	26
2	Nildo	AZAL	21
3	Juan Varea	Ravan Baku	14
4	Richard Almeida	Qarabağ	13
5	Salif Ballo	Turan	12
6	Pardis Fardjad-Azad	Sumgayit	9
7	Yuriy Fomenko	Kəpəz / Inter Baku	8
	Bachana Tskhadadze	Inter Baku	8
	Julius Wobay	Neftchi Baku	8
10	Zouhir Benouahi	AZAL	7
11	Mario Božić	Simurq	6
	Flavinho	Neftchi Baku	6
	Marius Pena	Baku	6
	Mindaugas Kalonas	Ravan Baku	6
	Dimitris Sialmas	Khazar	6
	Victor Mendy	Gabala	6

Source: Azerbaijan Premier League

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Nildo4	AZAL	Qarabağ	6–2[22]	16 September 2012
Nicolás Canales4	Neftchi Baku	Sumgayit	8–1[23]	17 November 2012
Salif Ballo	Turan	Kəpəz	5–1[24]	2 December 2012
Pardis Fardjad-Azad4	Sumgayit	Turan	4–0[25]	11 March 2013
Juan Varea	Ravan Baku	Turan	6–2[26]	30 March 2013

• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Irakli Beraia for Kəpəz against Turan Tovuz (4 August 2012)
• Fastest goal of the season: 1st minute, Yannick Kamanan for Gabala against Khazar Lankaran (22 February 2013)^[27]
• Latest goal of the season: 94 minutes and 33 seconds, Slavčo Georgievski for Inter Baku against Turan Tovuz (25 August 2012)^[28]
• Largest winning margin: 7 goals
  • Neftchi Baku 8–1 Sumgayit (17 November 2012)
• Highest scoring game: 9 goals
  • Neftchi Baku 8–1 Sumgayit (17 November 2012)^[29]
• Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 8 goals
  • Neftchi Baku 8–1 Sumgayit (17 November 2012)
• Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals
  • Turan Tovuz 3–5 Kəpəz (13 May 2013)^[30]
  • Ravan Baku 3–5 AZAL (14 May 2013)^[31]

Clean sheets

• Most clean sheets: 16
  • Inter Baku
  • Qarabağ
• Fewest clean sheets: 5
  • Kəpəz
  • Turan Tovuz

Discipline

• Most yellow cards (club): 96^[32]
  • Kəpəz
• Most yellow cards (player): 14^[32]
  • Samuel Barlay (Ravan Baku)

• Most red cards (club): 8^[32]
  • Khazar Lankaran
  • Simurq
• Most red cards (player): 3^[32]
  • Aleksandr Chertoganov (Gabala)