2024-04-16 13:31:14
“First of all, I congratulate the newly elected AFFA president and members of the executive committee. I wish them an active, confident start. May their efforts lead to success and victories.”
Football veteran Adil Huseynov stated this to İdman.biz.
A former football player who played for Neftchi, Nakhchivan Araz and other clubs in the 70s of the last century, assessed the activities of AFFA:
“Today football is an important social event in the world, and, as we see, the state pays special attention to the popularization of this sport and its development. The “State Program for the Development of Football in the Republic of Azerbaijan” approved by the head of the country, Mr. Ilham Aliyev, serves to develop this sport in the country and achieve success in international competitions. The success of Azerbaijani football is measured by the performances of national teams at international competitions, including the World and European Championships, the Olympic Games, and the performances of clubs at European tournaments. Unfortunately, despite government support, since 1992, when AFFA was created, and until now, our national teams and our clubs, with the exception of Agdam “Karabakh”, have not achieved great success in the international arena. We have to admit that professional football in Azerbaijan is still far from the standards of the leading European championships.”
Huseynov did not hide his optimistic approach to changes in the organization’s leadership after the AFFA reporting and election conference and voiced his expectations from the team:
“Our goal is to see our team among the best in the world. To do this, our team must become a competitive force. At the moment, there are few high-level players in the team. As soon as our teams in the younger age groups successfully perform at the World and European Championships, the main team countries, it will be possible to predict a high result.”
The football veteran also touched upon the issue of Georgia’s qualification for EURO 2024:
“Georgia is a neighboring and friendly country for us, hundreds of thousands of our compatriots live in this country. Their joy is our joy. I wish the Georgian team a successful performance at EURO 2024. To compare the football of two neighboring countries, it is important to look into history and analyze the performances of national teams , participation of clubs in European competitions, results, FIFA and UEFA rankings and, finally, assess the number and level of players playing outside their country.”
Huseynov spoke about the work to be done by the new AFFA leadership:
“Taking into account the popularity of football and its role in educating the younger generation, AFFA must prepare a new strategy for the development of this sport. In this strategy, first of all, special attention should be paid to the discrepancy between the current state of football and the success of the republic in the socio-economic sphere. At the same time, the strategy should be aimed at increasing the number of people involved in all types of football, improving the management system, ensuring monitoring of public opinion about the organization, etc. There is a saying of the fathers: “If you look from afar, the scale of the problems that AFFA faces.” at the present stage, it is such that they can only be solved through the joint efforts of the state, professionals, journalists, bloggers and the entire football community. Clubs have to try to finance themselves, our football is far from the people – fans are not particularly fond of their favorite sport and at the same time. , unfortunately, in some cases there is a lack of fan culture, I mean those who use offensive words. and are in the minority. I really hope that they will take this into account and come to the right conclusion. We must all understand that whether we are players on the field, referees or fans in the stands, we are citizens of the same country, subject to the same laws, but we must respect the principles of sport, including the principles of fairness.”
The veteran footballer also touched on the situation of the clubs:
“Azerbaijani clubs themselves are very unprofitable. Sponsors want immediate results. There were also those who ceased their activities for various reasons, including due to financial difficulties. The financial situation does not inspire optimism, with the exception of 3-4 clubs, club budgets are mainly generated by subsidies from the state. At the same time, funding from marketing and television and radio broadcasting is minimal, the money raised from the sale of tickets to loyal fans of most clubs during matches in stadiums is enough to cover a small part of the teams’ expenses.”
It should be noted that the former football player is currently the vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Azerbaijan Republic, an associate professor at the Azerbaijan State University of Economics (UNEC) and a member of the Narimanov district municipality of Baku.
İdman.biz