2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League

2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League is the 34rd season of the Azerbaijan Premier League, the highest tier football league of Azerbaijan. The season started on 15 August 2025.

Starting from the 2025–26 season, the foreign player quota has been abolished. A mandatory fee will be applied to all foreign players. At the same time, teams that include local players in their line-ups will receive financial bonuses. These bonuses will be funded by the revenues collected from the foreign player fees.

Beginning this season, the number of teams has been increased from 10 to 12. At the end of 2025–26 season, the team that finishes in 11th place in the Premier League will face the runner-up of the First League in a play-off match held at the neutral venue. The winner of this match will earn a spot in the next season’s Premier League. The team that finishes last will be relegated to the First League, while the First League champion will be promoted to the Premier League, automatically. Ahead of the new season, AFFA's Licensing Commission granted licenses to the following teams: Baku Sporting, Difai, İmişli, Karvan, Kəpəz, Qəbələ, Səbail, and Şamaxı. The official draw ceremony for the 2025–26 season took place on 18 July at the Flame Towers complex.

Teams

Team changes

Promoted from 2024–25 Azerbaijan First Division	Relegated to 2025–26 Azerbaijan First Division
Gabala, Karvan, Imishli	Sabail

Sabail relegated to First Division after eight years in top tier.

Gabala return to top tier after one year absence, Imishli return to top tier after eighteen years absence and Karvan return to top tier after sixteen years absence.

Stadia and locations

Team	Year Established	Location	Venue	Capacity
Araz Naxçıvan	1967	Nakhchivan, Baku	Dalga Arena	6,500
Gabala	2005	Qabala	Gabala City Stadium	4,500
Imishli	2022	Imishli	Heydar Aliyev Stadium	8,500
Kapaz	1959	Ganja, Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	6,500
Karvan Yevlakh	2022	Yevlakh, Shamakhi	Shamakhi City Stadium	2,200
Neftchi	1937	Baku	Neftchi Arena	10,260
Qarabağ	1987	Aghdam, Baku	Tofiq Bahramov Stadium	31,200
Sabah	2017	Absheron	Bank Respublika Arena	8,600
Shamakhi	1997	Shamakhi	Shamakhi City Stadium	2,200
Sumgayit	2010	Sumgait	Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium	8,700
Turan Tovuz	2014	Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	6,500
Zira	2014	Zira, Baku	Zira Sport Complex	1,300

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Neftçi	Samir Abbasov	Fired	24 November 2025	7th	Sanan Gurbanov (Acting)	24 November 2025
Sanan Gurbanov (Acting)	End of contract	9 December 2025	8th	Yuriy Vernydub	9 December 2025
Araz-Naxçıvan	Elmar Bakhshiyev	Mutual Termination	25 December 2025	5th	Andriy Demchenko	4 January 2026

Foreign players

<table><thead><tr><th>Club</th><th>Player 1</th><th>Player 2</th><th>Player 3</th><th>Player 4</th><th>Player 5</th><th>Player 6</th><th>Player 7</th><th>Player 8</th><th>Player 9</th><th>Player 10</th><th>Player 11</th><th>Player 12</th><th>Player 13</th><th>Player 14</th><th>Player 15</th><th>Player 16</th><th>Player 17</th><th>Left during the season</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Araz-Naxçıvan</td><td>Bruno Franco</td><td>Ramon Machado</td><td>Wanderson Maranhão</td><td>Felipe Santos</td><td>Issouf Paro</td><td>Patrick Andrade</td><td>Charles Boli</td><td>Hamidou Keyta</td><td>Ba-Muaka Simakala</td><td>Bar Cohen</td><td>Ayyoub Allach</td><td>Cristian Avram</td><td>Nuno Rodrigues</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Gabala</td><td>Paulo Guimbila</td><td>Eduardo Kunde</td><td>Domi Massoumou</td><td>Ibrahim Sangaré</td><td>Isaac Amoah</td><td>Prince Owusu</td><td>Adriel Ba Loua</td><td>Ismahil Akinade</td><td>Salihu Nasiru</td><td>Jaime Sierra</td><td>Seydina Keita</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Jeando Fuchs</td></tr><tr><td>İmişli</td><td>Andrey Sinenko</td><td>Juninho</td><td>Ronaldo Rodrigues</td><td>Diogo Rollo</td><td>Rafael Viegas</td><td>Edwin Banguera</td><td>Ezekiel Morgan</td><td>Yaw Moses</td><td>Diogo Almeida</td><td>Nikola Karaklajić</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Kapaz</td><td>Jefferson Bento</td><td>Pachu</td><td>Adama Fofana</td><td>Otar Aptsiauri</td><td>Donald Dongo</td><td>Ryonosuke Ohori</td><td>Mahamadou Ba</td><td>Olawale Onanuga</td><td>Kacper Rosa</td><td>Pedro Gomes</td><td>Diogo Verdasca</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Vitor Feijão</td></tr><tr><td>Karvan</td><td>Moise Ngwisani</td><td>Joy-Slayd Mickels</td><td>Imani Barker</td><td>Nika Chachashvili</td><td>Shaquill Sno</td><td>Olawale Doyeni</td><td>Peter Kings</td><td>Gavi Thompson</td><td>Victor Rocha</td><td>Pedro Mateus</td><td>Kyle Spence</td><td>Sam Durrant</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Saeed Irankhah</td></tr><tr><td>Neftçi</td><td>Sessi D'Almeida</td><td>Kenan Pirić</td><td>Igor Ribeiro</td><td>Vincent Aboubakar</td><td>Jordan Rezabala</td><td>Imad Faraj</td><td>Bassala Sambou</td><td>Alessio Curci</td><td>Falaye Sacko</td><td>Edvin Kuč</td><td>Ifeanyi Mathew</td><td>Luis Ortíz</td><td>Cristian Costin</td><td>Moustapha Seck</td><td>Freddy Vargas</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Qarabağ</td><td>Pedro Bicalho</td><td>Dani Bolt</td><td>Kady Borges</td><td>Matheus Silva</td><td>Leandro Andrade</td><td>Camilo Durán</td><td>Kevin Medina</td><td>Fabijan Buntić</td><td>Abdellah Zoubir</td><td>Emmanuel Addai</td><td>Chris Kouakou</td><td>Marko Janković</td><td>Mateusz Kochalski</td><td>Joni Montiel</td><td>Oleksiy Kashchuk</td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Sabah</td><td>Akim Zedadka</td><td>Ygor Nogueira</td><td>Andrey Santos</td><td>Ivan Lepinjica</td><td>Zinédine Ould Khaled</td><td>Aaron Malouda</td><td>Joy-Lance Mickels</td><td>Steve Solvet</td><td>Kaheem Parris</td><td>Stas Pokatilov</td><td>Jesse Sekidika</td><td>Tymoteusz Puchacz</td><td>Veljko Simić</td><td>Pavol Šafranko</td><td>Umarali Rakhmonaliev</td><td></td><td></td><td>Bojan Letić Njegoš Kupusović</td></tr><tr><td>Şamaxı</td><td>César</td><td>António Lara</td><td>David Oliveira</td><td>Abdullahi Shuaibu</td><td>Ricardo Apolinario</td><td>Diogo Balau</td><td>Ricardo Fernandes</td><td>Andrei Tîrcoveanu</td><td>Karim Rossi</td><td>Alphonce Msanga</td><td>Vladyslav Veremyeyev</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Sumgayit</td><td>Abdoul Rachid Moumini</td><td>Keffel</td><td>Trésor Mossi</td><td>Ronaldo Vásquez</td><td>Rayan Senhadji</td><td>Roi Kahat</td><td>Masaki Murata</td><td>Alexandre Ramalingom</td><td>Easah Suliman</td><td>Pedro Pinto</td><td>Aleksa Janković</td><td>Nikola Ninković</td><td>Danylo Beskorovaynyi</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Turan Tovuz</td><td>Henrique</td><td>Jô</td><td>David Tavares</td><td>Haiderson Hurtado</td><td>Ibrahima Wadji</td><td>Denis Marandici</td><td>Roderick Miller</td><td>Jorge Silva</td><td>Sergei Samok</td><td>Roberto Olabe</td><td>Álex Serrano</td><td>Oleg Baklov</td><td>Emmanuel Hackman</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>Alex Souza</td></tr><tr><td>Zira</td><td>Yegor Bogomolsky</td><td>Henrique</td><td>Martins Júnior</td><td>Ruan Renato</td><td>Brahim Konaté</td><td>Iron Gomis</td><td>Leroy-Jacques Mickels</td><td>Giorgi Papunashvili</td><td>Davit Volkovi</td><td>Stephane Acka</td><td>Guima</td><td>Issa Djibrilla</td><td>Tiago Silva</td><td>Ange Mutsinzi</td><td>Abdul Aziz Batibie</td><td>Eldar Kuliyev</td><td></td><td>Vincent Thill</td></tr></tbody></table>

In italics:' Players that are on loan from another APL side. In bold: Players that have been capped for their national team.

League table

2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sabah	25	19	5	1	60	17	+43	62	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Qarabağ	24	16	4	4	48	18	+30	52	Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round
3	Turan Tovuz	25	14	6	5	32	17	+15	48	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
4	Zira	25	11	9	5	33	27	+6	42
5	Araz-Naxçıvan	25	11	6	8	34	43	−9	39
6	Neftçi	24	9	10	5	39	22	+17	37
7	Sumgayit	25	9	5	11	33	35	−2	32
8	Shamakhi	25	7	9	9	24	27	−3	30
9	Imishli	25	4	10	11	18	36	−18	22
10	Kapaz	25	6	3	16	21	48	−27	21
11	Gabala	25	4	4	17	23	42	−19	16	Qualification to Relegation Play-off
12	Karvan	25	1	5	19	16	49	−33	8	Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division

Results

2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League

Clubs play each other three times for a total of 33 matches each.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Joy-Lance Mickels	Sabah	10
2	Veljko Simić	Sabah	9
Bassala Sambou	Neftçi
4	Karim Rossi	Şamaxı	8
5	Toral Bayramov	Qarabağ	7
Diogo Dos Santos	İmişli
Emin Mahmudov	Neftçi
Ba-Muaka Simakala	Araz-Naxçıvan

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Stas Pokatilov	Sabah	8
Oleg Baklov	Turan Tovuz
3	Ricardo Fernandes	Şamaxı	6
4	Kenan Pirić	Neftçi	5
Shakhruddin Magomedaliyev	Qarabağ
Cristian Avram	Araz-Naxçıvan
Tiago Silva	Zira
Andrey Sinenko	İmişli
9	Mekhti Dzhenetov	Sumgayit	4
10	Mateusz Kochalski	Qarabağ	2