2022–23 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2022–23 Azerbaijan Premier League was the 31st season of the Azerbaijan Premier League, the highest tier football league of Azerbaijan. The season begun on 6 August 2022 and ended 28 May 2023.

Azerbaijan Premier League

Season	2022–23
Dates	6 August 2022 – 28 May 2023
Champions	Qarabağ
Relegated	Shamakhi
Champions League	Qarabağ
Europa Conference League	Sabah Neftçi Gabala
Matches played	180
Goals scored	475 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ramil Sheydayev (22 goals)
Biggest home win	Sabah 5-0 Kapaz (9 October 2022)
Biggest away win	Zira 1-7 Qarabağ (18 September 2022) Sumgayit 0-6 Sabah (23 December 2022)
Highest scoring	Zira 1-7 Qarabağ (18 September 2022)
Longest winning run	Qarabağ (13 games)
Longest unbeaten run	Qarabağ (29 games)
Longest winless run	Sumgayit (15 games)
Longest losing run	Sabail (8 games)
Highest attendance	10,000 Sabah 0–0 Qarabağ (13 November 2022)
Lowest attendance	24 Gabala 1-0 Zira (5 November 2022)
Total attendance	265,144
Average attendance	1,473
← 2021–22 2023–24 → All statistics correct as of 29 May 2023.

Teams

Neftçi
Sabah

Shamakhi

Gabala

Kapaz

Qarabağ

Sabail

Sumgayit

Turan Tovuz

Zira

Locations of the 2022–23 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[1]
Gabala	1995[2][3]	Qabala	Gabala City Stadium	4,500
Kapaz	1959	Ganja	Ganja City Stadium	27,000
Neftchi	1937	Baku	Bakcell Arena	11,000
Qarabağ	1951	Aghdam	Azersun Arena	5,200
Sabah	2017	Absheron, Baku	Bank Respublika Arena	13,000
Sabail	2016	Sabail, Baku	Bayil Arena	3,200
Shamakhi	1997[4]	Shamakhi	Shamakhi City Stadium	2,200
Sumgayit	2010	Sumgait	Kapital Bank Arena	1,400
Turan Tovuz	1992	Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	6,800
Zira	2014	Zira, Baku	Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium	1,300

Stadiums

Gabala	Kapaz	Qarabağ	Neftçi	Sabah
Gabala City Stadium	Ganja City Stadium	Azersun Arena	Bakcell Arena	Bank Respublika Arena
Capacity: 4,500	Capacity: 27,000	Capacity: 5,200	Capacity: 10,200	Capacity: 13,000
Sabail	Shamakhi	Sumgayit	Turan Tovuz	Zira
ASCO Arena	Shamakhi City Stadium	Kapital Bank Arena	Tovuz City Stadium	Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium
Capacity: 3,200	Capacity: 2,200	Capacity: 1,400	Capacity: 6,800	Capacity: 1,300

Personnel and kits

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

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Gabala	Fariz Najafov	Elmar Bakhshiyev	Asif Mammadov	Joma	Gilan & Knauf
Kapaz	Ilgar Nadiri	Tarlan Ahmadov	Tural Akhundov	Joma	-
Neftçi	Kamran Guliyev	Laurențiu Reghecampf	Emin Mahmudov	Nike	Turkish Airlines
Qarabağ	Abdolbari Gozal	Gurban Gurbanov	Maksim Medvedev	Il’Azero	Azersun
Sabah	Magsud Adigozalov	Murad Musayev	Elvin Jamalov	Nike	Bank Respublika
Sabail	Abdulgani Nurmammadov	Shahin Diniyev	Rahid Amirguliyev	Jako	ASCO
Shamakhi	Elchin Usub	Vugar Asgarli	Elvin Mammadov	Joma	-
Sumgayit	Riad Rafiyev	Samir Abbasov	Vurğun Hüseynov	Jako	Pasha Insurance[broken anchor], Azərikimya
Turan Tovuz	Ogtay Abdullayev	Aykhan Abbasov	Şehriyar Aliyev	Jako	-
Zira	Taleh Nasibov	Rashad Sadygov	Qismət Alıyev	Joma	Nar, Azfargroup

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Sabail	Aftandil Hacıyev	23 May 2022[5]	Mutual termination	Pre-season	Mahmud Qurbanov	26 May 2022[6]
Neftçi	Samir Abbasov	10 June 2022[7]	End of contract	Pre-season	Laurențiu Reghecampf	21 June 2022[8]
Sumgayit	Alyaksey Baha	21 September 2022[9]	Mutual termination	8th	Samir Abbasov	26 September 2022[10]
Sabail	Mahmud Qurbanov	28 December 2022[11]	Resigned	10th	Shahin Diniyev	29 December 2022[12]

Foreign players

Each team could use only seven foreign players on the field in each game.

Main articles: List of Azerbaijan football transfers summer 2022 and List of Azerbaijan football transfers winter 2022–23

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	Player 13	Left during the season
Gabala	Isnik Alimi	Ramon	Ruan	Felipe	Alemão	Christophe Atangana	Fares Abu Akel	Omar Hani	Yaovi Akakpo	Andriy Stryzhak	Ayyoub Allach
Kapaz	Yegor Khvalko	Juninho Maranhense	Mario Mustapic	Salif Cissé	Giorgi Kantaria	Mate Kvirkvia	Ahmed Isaiah	Abdullahi Shuaibu						Mikheil Ergemlidze Peyman Keshavarzi Rinat Guseynov
Neftçi	Yegor Bogomolsky	Saldanha	Ivan Brkić	Keelan Lebon	Vato Arveladze	Solomon Kvirkvelia	Ataa Jaber	César Meza	Azer Aliyev	Vojislav Stanković	Kenny Saief			Guilherme Pato Godsway Donyoh Yusuf Lawal Mamadou Mbodj
Qarabağ	Redon Xhixha	Yassine Benzia	Júlio Romão	Leandro Andrade	Kevin Medina	Adama Diakhaby	Abdellah Zoubir	Luka Gugeshashvili	Marko Janković	Marko Vešović				Kady Owusu Kwabena Ibrahima Wadji
Sabah	Bojan Letić	Christian	Davit Volkovi	Joy-Lance Mickels	Emmanuel Apeh	Abdoulaye Ba	Cristian Ceballos	Jon Irazabal	Zurab Ochihava	Oleksiy Kashchuk				Alyaksandr Nyachayew Tiemoko Fofana
Sabail	Franco Mazurek	Emil Martinov	França	David Gomis	Goba Zakpa	Matija Ljujić	Luwagga Kizito	Maksym Chekh	Petro Stasyuk					Facundo Cardozo
Shamakhi
Sumgayit	Diego Carioca	Steven Pereira	Karim Abubakar	Ilnur Valiev	Masaki Murata	Terrence Tisdell	Todor Todoroski	Alya Toure						Almir Aganspahić Rifat Nurmugamet Filipe Chaby Damjan Daničić Richard Gadze Ouro-Nile Toure
Turan Tovuz	Belajdi Pusi	Ben Aziz Dao	Rooney Eva Wankewai	Piruz Marakvelidze	Denis Marandici	Nathan Oduwa	Henry Okebugwu	Roderick Miller	Aykhan Guseynov	Siyanda Xulu	Divine Naah			Imeda Ashortia
Zira	Loris Brogno	Moïse Adiléhou	Filipe Pachtmann	Hamidou Keyta	Dimitrios Chantakias	Toni Gomes	Wilde-Donald Guerrier	Mo Hamdaoui	Issa Djibrilla	Abbas Ibrahim	Andrija Luković	Vladyslav Kulach	Eldar Kuliyev	Nemanja Anđelković

In bold: Players capped for their national team.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Qarabağ (C)	36	28	6	2	91	25	+66	90	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Sabah	36	25	6	5	75	24	+51	81	Qualification to Europa Conference League second qualifying round
3	Neftçi	36	20	8	8	63	38	+25	68
4	Gabala	36	13	11	12	47	47	0	50
5	Zira	36	13	11	12	45	46	−1	50
6	Turan Tovuz	36	10	9	17	36	49	−13	39
7	Sumgayit	36	8	7	21	26	70	−44	31
8	Kapaz	36	6	13	17	34	62	−28	31
9	Sabail	36	7	8	21	32	62	−30	29
10	Shamakhi (R)	36	4	13	19	26	52	−26	25	Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division

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.^[13]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Fixtures and results

Clubs played each other four times for a total of 36 matches each.

Matches 1–18 Home \ Away GAB KAP NEF QAR SAB SEB SHA SUM TUR ZIR Gabala 1–1 1–2 0–1 0–2 2–1 3–1 1–0 0–0 1–0 Kapaz 0–3 0–2 0–1 2–2 3–0 2–1 0–1 0–0 1–2 Neftçi 2–0 5–2 0–4 2–3 3–1 3–0 3–0 0–0 2–1 Qarabağ 1–0 3–1 3–1 4–3 3–1 4–0 3–1 3–0 0–0 Sabah 2–1 5–0 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 3–0 3–1 1–0 Sabail 1–2 4–1 0–2 0–3 0–2 0–0 1–0 0–1 1–2 Shamakhi 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–4 0–1 1–1 4–2 0–1 0–0 Sumgayit 1–1 0–0 2–2 0–2 0–6 2–0 1–1 0–0 0–2 Turan Tovuz 0–2 2–0 0–1 0–2 0–1 2–2 1–3 1–0 1–3 Zira 2–1 2–2 0–3 1–7 1–3 1–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 Source: soccerway.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36 Home \ Away GAB KAP NEF QAR SAB SEB SHA SUM TUR ZIR Gabala 1–1 0–0 1–3 0–3 4–2 2–0 2–1 1–2 2–1 Kapaz 2–2 1–3 1–1 0–3 1–0 3–2 0–1 1–0 1–1 Neftçi 1–2 2–2 2–4 1–0 3–0 1–1 2–0 4–0 1–0 Qarabağ 3–0 3–1 1–1 1–1 3–0 3–1 1–2 3–1 2–2 Sabah 3–2 2–0 2–0 2–1 4–0 1–0 4–0 0–2 0–0 Sabail 2–2 1–0 1–1 0–3 2–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 2–0 Shamakhi 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–1 2–1 2–1 0–0 0–1 0–3 Sumgayit 2–3 1–2 0–4 0–6 0–4 1–3 1–0 2–1 0–3 Turan Tovuz 1–1 2–0 4–0 2–3 0–2 2–2 1–1 2–3 0–2 Zira 2–2 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–2 3–1 2–2 3–1 1–3 Source: soccerway.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of match played 28 May 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Ramil Sheydayev	Qarabağ	22
2	Musa Gurbanli	Qarabağ	21
3	Joy-Lance Mickels	Sabah	17
	Emin Mahmudov	Neftçi
5	Oleksiy Kashchuk	Sabah	16
	Rooney Eva	Turan Tovuz
7	Abdullahi Shuaibu	Kapaz	11
8	Davit Volkovi	Sabah	10
9	Isnik Alimi	Gabala	9
10	Hamidou Keyta	Zira	8
	Abdellah Zoubir	Qarabağ
	Emmanuel Apeh	Sabah
	Ramon	Gabala

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Musa Gurbanlı4	Qarabağ	Zira	1–7	18 September 2022	[14]
Rooney Eva	Turan Tovuz	Neftçi	4–0	7 May 2023	[15]

• ⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

As of matches played 28 May 2023

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Yusif Imanov	Sabah	19
2	Ivan Brkić	Neftçi	13
3	Tarlan Ahmadli	Turan Tovuz	10
4	Shakhruddin Magomedaliyev	Qarabağ	9
	Luka Gugeshashvili	Qarabağ

See also

• Azerbaijan Premier League
• Azerbaijan First Division
• Azerbaijan Cup