2010–11 Azerbaijan Premier League
# 2010–11 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2010–11 Azerbaijan Premier League (known as the Unibank Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The fixtures were announced on 29 July 2010; the season began on 7 August 2010 and ended on 28 May 2011. Neftchi Baku were the eventual champions, winning their first Azerbaijani championship since 2005.

The league was competed over two stages. The first stage consisted of a regular home-and-away round-robin schedule for a total of 22 matches per team. The competition was then split in half, with the teams ranked first through sixth playing out the championship and the European spots while the bottom six teams having to avoid one of the two relegation places. In contrast to the previous season, each team transferred their full record from the first to the second stage.

Adidas provided their Jabulani match ball for the season.

## Teams

Standard Sumgayit and Karvan were relegated to the Azerbaijan First Division after finishing 11th and 12th, respectively, at the end of last season. They were replaced by First Division champions Ganja and runners-up MOIK Baku.

Olimpik-Shuvalan Baku were renamed AZAL Baku prior to the start of the season.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Location | Venue | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - |
| AZAL | Baku | AZAL Stadium | 3,000 |
| FK Baku | Baku | Tofig Bahramov Stadium | 30,000 |
| Ganja | Ganja | Ganja City Stadium | 25,000 |
| Inter | Baku | Shafa Stadium | 8,150 |
| Khazar | Lankaran | Lankaran City Stadium | 15,000 |
| MOIK Baku | Baku | MOIK Stadium | 1,000 |
| Mughan | Salyan | Salyany Olympic Stadium | 2,000 |
| Neftchi | Baku | Ismat Gayibov Stadium | 5,000 |
| Qarabağ | Aghdam | Guzanli Olympic Stadium | 2,000 |
| Gabala FC | Gabala | Gabala City Stadium | 2,000 |
| Simurq | Zaqatala | Zaqatala City Stadium | 3,500 |
| Turan | Tovuz | Tovuz City Stadium | 10,000 |

### Personnel and sponsoring

| Team | Head coach | Team captain | Kitmaker | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| AZAL | Nazim Suleymanov | Agil Nabiyev | Umbro | Silk Way |
| FK Baku | Aleksandrs Starkovs | Jamshid Maharramov | Kappa | |
| FK Ganja | Mehman Allahverdiyev | Azer Mammadov | Adidas | |
| Inter | Kakhaber Tskhadadze | Vladimir Levin | Adidas | IBA |
| Khazar | Mircea Rednic | Kamran Agaev | Puma | Palmali |
| MOIK Baku | Gahraman Aliyev | Farid Hashimzadeh | Umbro | |
| Mughan | Bahman Hasanov | Elnur Abdullayev | Olympikus | Nissan |
| Neftchi | Arif Asadov | Rail Malikov | Adidas | SOCAR |
| Qarabağ | Gurban Gurbanov | Aslan Kerimov | Adidas | Azersun Holding |
| Qabala | Tony Adams | Kanan Karimov | Erreà | Hyundai |
| Simurq | Gjoko Hadžievski | Rasim Ramaldanov | Umbro | |
| Turan | Asgar Abdullayev | Vurgun Huseynov | Umbro | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Gabala | Ramiz Mammadov | End of contract | 10 May 2010 | Tony Adams | 12 May 2010 |
| FK Baku | Cüneyt Biçer | End of contract | 10 June 2010 | Winfried Schäfer | 10 June 2010 |
| Simurq PFC | Roman Pokora | Sacked | 18 June 2010 | Gjoko Hadžievski | 18 June 2010 |
| Turan Tovuz | Nizami Sadygov | Sacked | 29 June 2010 | Sakit Aliyev | 29 June 2010 |
| Khazar Lankaran | Agaselim Mirjavadov | Resigned | 8 July 2010 | Mircea Rednic | 15 July 2010 |
| Turan Tovuz | Sakit Aliyev | Sacked | 30 September 2010 | Revaz Dzodzuashvili | 30 September 2010 |
| FK Mughan | Almir Hurtić | Resigned | 13 November 2010 | Bahman Hasanov | 13 November |
| Turan Tovuz | Revaz Dzodzuashvili | End of contract | 23 December 2010 | Naci Şensoy | 25 December 2010 |
| FK Baku | Winfried Schäfer | Sacked | 6 January 2011 | Aleksandrs Starkovs | 16 January 2011 |
| FK Ganja | Fuad Ismayilov | Resigned | 17 March 2011 | Mehman Allahverdiyev | 18 March 2011 |
| Turan Tovuz | Naci Şensoy | Sacked | 6 May 2011 | Asgar Abdullayev | 6 May 2011 |

## First round

### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Neftçi Baku | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 40 | 9 | +31 | 48 | Qualification for championship group |
| 2 | Khazar Lankaran | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 12 | +16 | 47 | Qualification for championship group |
| 3 | Qarabağ | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 30 | 14 | +16 | 42 | Qualification for championship group |
| 4 | Inter Baku | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 16 | +8 | 40 | Qualification for championship group |
| 5 | AZAL | 22 | 9 | 9 | 4 | 27 | 16 | +11 | 36 | Qualification for championship group |
| 6 | Baku | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 33 | Qualification for championship group |
| 7 | Gabala | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 31 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 8 | Mughan | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 23 | −9 | 27 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 9 | Ganja | 22 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 23 | 27 | −4 | 24 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 10 | Turan | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 35 | −18 | 15 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 11 | Simurq | 22 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 12 | 34 | −22 | 12 | Qualification for relegation group |
| 12 | MOIK Baku | 22 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 47 | −41 | 6 | Qualification for relegation group |

### Results

| Home \ Away | AZL | BAK | GAN | INT | KHA | MOI | MUG | NEF | QAR | GAB | SIM | TUR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| AZAL | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Baku | 2–3 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 |
| Ganja | 1–1 | 1–3 | | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Inter Baku | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| Khazar Lankaran | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| MOIK Baku | 1–1 | 0–4 | 0–5 | 0–4 | 0–2 | | 3–2 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| Mughan | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Neftçi Baku | 1–0 | 0–2 | 6–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 |
| Qarabağ | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | | 3–0 | 3–2 | 5–1 |
| Gabala | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 4–0 | 1–0 |
| Simurq | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | | 2–2 |
| Turan | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | |

## Second round

The league was split into two groups; however, each team retained its record from the first 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 2011–12 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 | 10 | 3 | 53 | 17 | +36 | 67 | Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Khazar Lankaran | 32 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 38 | 18 | +20 | 60 | Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Qarabağ | 32 | 17 | 7 | 8 | 41 | 22 | +19 | 58 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | AZAL | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 36 | 28 | +8 | 49 | Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Inter Baku | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 29 | 24 | +5 | 49 | |
| 6 | Baku | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 40 | |

* ↑ Khazar Lankaran won the 2010–11 Azerbaijan Cup and therefore qualified for the second qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.

**Results**

| Home \ Away | AZL | BAK | INT | KHA | NEF | QAR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| AZAL | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–1 |
| Baku | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Inter Baku | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 |
| Khazar Lankaran | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Neftçi Baku | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | | 2–0 |
| Qarabağ | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | |

### Relegation group

**Table**

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 7 | Gabala | 32 | 13 | 12 | 7 | 31 | 18 | +13 | 51 | |
| 8 | Mughan | 32 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 29 | 31 | −2 | 47 | |
| 9 | Ganja | 32 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 33 | 37 | −4 | 36 | |
| 10 | Turan | 32 | 7 | 6 | 19 | 24 | 47 | −23 | 27 | |
| 11 | Simurq (R) | 32 | 4 | 7 | 21 | 20 | 52 | −32 | 19 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |
| 12 | MOIK Baku (R) | 32 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 14 | 55 | −41 | 18 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |

**Results**

| Home \ Away | GAB | GAN | MOI | MUG | SIM | TUR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Gabala | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| Ganja | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| MOIK Baku | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 |
| Mughan | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Simurq | 0–0 | 4–3 | 1–2 | 1–3 | | 0–1 |
| Turan | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | |

## Season statistics

### Top scorers

    As of 18 May 2011

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Georgi Adamia | Qarabağ | 18 |
| 2 | Bahodir Nasimov | Neftchi Baku | 15 |
| 3 | Flavinho | Neftchi Baku | 11 |
| 4 | Rauf Aliyev | Qarabağ | 10 |
| 4 | Gvidas Juška | AZAL | 10 |
| 4 | Junivan | Gence | 10 |
| 5 | Deon Burton | Gabala | 9 |
| 5 | Sabir Allahquliyev | FK Gence | 9 |
| 6 | Winston Parks | Khazar | 8 |
| 7 | Rashad Abdullayev | Neftchi Baku | 7 |
| 7 | Jabá | FK Baku | 7 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Bahodir Nasimov | Neftchi Baku | Simurq | 4–0 | 21 August 2010 |
| Giorgi Adamia | Qarabağ | Neftchi Baku | 3–0 | 13 May 2011 |

### Scoring

* First goal of the season: Bachana Tskhadadze for Simurq against Ganja (7 August 2010)
* Fastest goal of the season: 1st minute, Bahodir Nasimov for Neftchi Baku against Simurq (21 August 2010)
* Latest goal of the season: 94 minutes, George Gulordava for FK Mughan against Simurq (12 March 2011)
* Largest winning margin: 5 goals
   * MOIK Baku 0–5 Ganja (2 October 2010)
   * AZAL 5–0 Inter Baku (16 October 2010)
* Highest scoring game: 8 goals
   * Neftchi Baku 6–2 Ganja (23 October 2010)
* Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 6 goals
   * Neftchi Baku 6–2 Ganja (23 October 2010)
* Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals
   * Simurq 4–3 Ganja (19 May 2011)

### Clean sheets

* Most clean sheets: 19
   * Neftchi Baku
   * Gabala
* Fewest clean sheets: 4
   * MOIK Baku

### Monthly awards

| Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month |
| - | - | - |
| Month | Player | Club |
| September | Bahodir Nasimov | Neftchi Baku |
| October | Flavinho | Neftchi Baku |
| November | Zouhir Benouahi | AZAL |
| December | Samir Aliyev | Simurg |
| February | Flavinho | Neftchi Baku |
| March | Rauf Aliyev | FK Qarabag |
| April | Winston Parks | Khazar |
| May | Giorgi Adamia | Qarabağ |
