2018–19 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2018–19 Azerbaijan Premier League was the 27th season of the Azerbaijan Premier League. It was won by the defending champions Qarabağ, for their sixth consecutive championship title. The season began on 11 August 2018.^[1]

Azerbaijan Premier League

Season	2018–19
Dates	11 August 2018 – 11 May 2019
Champions	Qarabağ
Champions League	Qarabağ
Europa League	Neftçi Baku Sabail
Matches played	112
Goals scored	285 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mahir Emreli (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Qarabağ 5–1 Keşla (3 December 2018)
Biggest away win	Zira 0–6 Qarabağ (9 December 2018)
Highest scoring	Zira 0–6 Qarabağ (9 December 2018)
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 11 May 2019.

The winner of the league this season earned a spot in the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 Champions League, and the second and third placed clubs earned a place in the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 Europa League.^[2]

Teams

Kapaz was relegated at the conclusion of the previous season.^[1] Sabah were promoted and participated in the Premier League this season.^[3]

Keşla
Neftçi Baku
Sabah

Sumgayit

Gabala

Qarabağ

Zira

Sabail

Locations of the 2018–19 Azerbaijan Premier League teams.
Team in italics is from a zone of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and is playing its home games in Baku.

Stadia and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Year Established	Location	Venue	Capacity[4]
Gabala	1995[5][6]	Qabala	Gabala City Stadium	4,500
Keşla	1997[7]	Keshla	ASK Arena	8,125
Neftchi Baku	1937	Baku	Bakcell Arena	10,500
Qarabağ	1951	Aghdam	Azersun Arena {Baku}	5,800
Sabah	2017	Baku	Alinja Arena	13,000
Sabail	2016	Səbail	Bayil Arena	5,000
Sumgayit	2010	Sumqayit	Kapital Bank Arena	1,500
Zira	2014	Zira	Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium	1,400

Stadiums

Gabala	Keşla	Neftchi Baku	Qarabağ
Gabala City Stadium	ASK Arena	Bakcell Arena	Azersun Arena
Capacity: 4,500	Capacity: 8,200	Capacity: 10,500	Capacity: 5,800
Sabah	Sabail	Sumgayit	Zira
Alinja Arena	Bayil Arena	Kapital Bank Arena	Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium
Capacity: 13,000	Capacity: 3,200	Capacity: 1,500	Capacity: 1,400

Personnel and kits

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
Gabala	Sanan Gurbanov	Javid Huseynov	Joma	QafqaZ Hotels[8]
Keşla	Tarlan Ahmedov	Kamran Aghayev	Joma	Samaya LTD
Neftchi Baku	Roberto Bordin	Ruslan Abışov	Nike
Qarabağ	Gurban Gurbanov	Rashad Sadygov	Adidas	Azersun Holding
Sabah	Elshad Ahmadov	Javid Imamverdiyev	Macron	Bank Respublika
Sabail	Aftandil Hajiyev	Rahid Amirguliyev	Macron	AzTea
Sumgayit	Aykhan Abbasov	Vurğun Hüseynov	Macron	Pasha Insurance[broken anchor]
Zira	Samir Abbasov	Kamal Bayramov	Joma	Santral Electric

Foreign players

A team could use only six foreign players on the field in each game.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Player 9	Player 10	Player 11	Player 12
Gabala	Sabien Lilaj	Steeven Joseph-Monrose	James Adeniyi	Vojislav Stanković	Lalawélé Atakora	Dmytro Bezotosnyi
Keşla	Denis Silva	Valeriy Kutsenko	John Kamara	Andre Clennon	Edvinas Girdvainis	Nikola Mitrović	Jonathan Ayite	Angelo Pena
Neftchi	Gianluca Sansone	Goran Paracki	Mamadou Mbodj	Bagaliy Dabo	Vangelis Platellas	Soni Mustivar	Kyrylo Petrov	Petru Racu
Qarabağ	Ansi Agolli	Vagner	Simeon Slavchev	Dzon Delarge	Filip Ozobić	Abdellah Zoubir	Donald Guerrier	Hannes Halldórsson	Jakub Rzeźniczak	Dani Quintana	Míchel	Innocent Emeghara
Sabah	Wanderson	Éric Ramos	Filip Ivanović	Saša Stamenković	Marko Dević	Vitaliy Kvashuk
Sabail	Imanol Iriberri	Emil Martinov	Kévin Koubemba	Tamaz Tsetskhladze	Maudo Jarjué	Tome Kitanovski	Oleksandr Rybka	Eugeniu Cociuc	Ihor Korotetskyi	Michael Essien
Sumgayit	Ali Babayev	Atilla Yıldırım	Amir Agayev	Aleksey Isayev	Peyman Babaei
Zira	Bilal Hamdi	Dylan Duventru	Sadio Tounkara	Alexandru Dedov	Adrian Scarlatache	Miloš Radivojević	Robin Ngalande	Mpho Kgaswane

In bold: Players that capped for their national team.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointmentr
Gabala	Roman Hryhorchuk	End of contract	29 May 2018[9]	Pre-season	Sanan Gurbanov	30 May 2018[10]
Neftchi Baku	Tarlan Ahmedov	End of contract	31 May 2018[11]	Pre-season	Roberto Bordin	8 June 2018[12]
Sabail	Samir Aliyev	Mutual consent	22 May 2018[13]	Pre-season	Aftandil Hajiyev	11 June 2018[14]
Sumgayit	Samir Abbasov	End of contract	20 May 2018	Pre-season	Nazim Suleymanov	7 June 2018[15]
Sabah	Arif Asadov	End of contract		Pre-season	Elshad Ahmadov
Keşla	Yuriy Maksymov	Sacked	17 July 2018[16]	Pre-season	Mladen Milinković	25 July 2018[17]
Zira	Aykhan Abbasov	Resignation	29 August 2018[18]	8th	Samir Abbasov	29 August 2018[19]
Keşla	Mladen Milinković	Sacked	29 October 2018[20]	7th	Tarlan Ahmadov	30 October 2018[21]

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Qarabağ (C)	28	20	6	2	65	21	+44	66	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Neftçi Baku	28	17	7	4	52	26	+26	58	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
3	Sabail	28	12	5	11	34	37	−3	41
4	Gabala	28	9	9	10	31	33	−2	36	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
5	Zira	28	8	7	13	30	40	−10	31
6	Sumgayit	28	8	5	15	24	42	−18	29
7	Sabah	28	7	6	15	20	41	−21	27
8	Keşla	28	6	5	17	29	45	−16	23

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored.^[22]
(C) Champions

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Qarabağ	3	1	1	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Neftçi Baku	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Sabail	8	8	6	4	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Gabala	1	3	4	5	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Zira	5	6	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	7	8	6	6	7	5	6	6	6	6	6	5	5
Sumgayit	7	4	5	6	4	3	3	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	6
Sabah	4	5	3	3	3	4	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	6	7
Keşla	6	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	6	7	7	6	7	7	8	8	8	8	8	8

	Leader and Champions League first qualifying round
	Europa League first qualifying round
	Europa League second qualifying round

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Results

Clubs played each other four times for a total of 28 matches each.^[23]

Games 1–14 Home \ Away GAB KES NEF QAR SAB SEB SUM ZIR Gabala — 1–1 3–1 1–3 2–1 3–0 1–1 0–0 Keşla 1–2 — 0–1 1–1 0–1 1–2 1–2 1–0 Neftçi Baku 2–1 2–0 — 3–1 2–0 4–0 0–0 2–2 Qarabağ 4–1 5–1 1–1 — 1–1 0–3 1–0 3–2 Sabah 1–0 1–2 1–2 0–2 — 0–4 1–4 2–1 Sabail 0–0 2–1 0–2 0–2 0–0 — 2–0 3–0 Sumgayit 2–2 1–4 0–2 0–2 0–1 1–0 — 1–0 Zira 1–0 2–2 1–2 0–6 0–2 0–0 3–1 — Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Games 15–28 Home \ Away GAB KES NEF QAR SAB SEB SUM ZIR Gabala — 0–0 1–3 1–2 0–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 Keşla 1–2 — 0–1 0–1 3–0 0–3 2–1 1–3 Neftçi Baku 1–1 2–0 — 2–3 3–0 1–2 2–3 4–2 Qarabağ 2–1 3–0 1–1 — 3–0 4–0 2–0 0–0 Sabah 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–1 — 3–1 1–1 0–3 Sabail 2–1 1–4 2–2 1–2 1–0 — 0–0 0–2 Sumgayit 1–0 2–1 1–2 0–6 1–0 1–2 — 0–1 Zira 1–1 2–0 0–0 0–3 0–2 1–2 2–0 — Source: [citation needed] Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Notes

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of match played 11 May 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mahir Emreli	Qarabağ	16
2	Bagaliy Dabo	Neftçi Baku	14
3	James Adeniyi	Gabala	10
4	Marko Dević	Sabah	8
	Filip Ozobić	Qarabağ
6	Mirabdulla Abbasov	Neftçi Baku	7
	Emin Mahmudov	Neftçi Baku
	Dani Quintana	Qarabağ
	Abdellah Zoubir	Qarabağ
10	Steeven Joseph-Monrose	Gabala	6
	Julio Rodríguez	Zira

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref.
Mahir Emreli	Qarabağ	Keşla	5–1	3 December 2018	[24]
Dani Quintana	Qarabağ	Zira	6–0	9 December 2018	[25]
Mahir Emreli	Qarabağ	Sabail	4–0	5 May 2019	[26]

Clean sheets

As of match played 11 May 2019

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Salahat Aghayev	Neftçi	12
2	Vagner da Silva	Qarabağ	10
3	Dmytro Bezotosnyi	Gabala	8
4	Emil Balayev	Sabail	7
	Saša Stamenković	Sabah

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Mirabdulla Abbasov for Neftçi Baku against Sumgayit. (11 August 2018)

See also

• Azerbaijan Premier League
• Azerbaijan First Division