2007–08 Azerbaijan Premier League
# 2007–08 Azerbaijan Premier League

The 2007–08 Azerbaijan Premier League is the 16th season of Azerbaijan Premier League, the Azerbaijani professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. Khazar Lankaran were the defending champions, having won the previous season.

## Teams

Shahdag Qusar were relegated after finishing the previous season in 13th. FK Gäncä, who were excluded from the league the previous season, also wouldn't take part in the 2007-08 season. On 13 August 2007 UEFA declared MKT Araz defunct and withdrew their participation from the league.

They were replaced by ABN Bärdä, Masallı and Standard Baku from the Azerbaijan First Division.

### Stadia and locations

| Team | Venue | Capacity |
| - | - | - |
| ABN Bärdä | Barda City Stadium | 10,000 |
| FK Baku | Tofik Bakhramov Stadium | 29,858 |
| Gabala | Gabala City Stadium | 2,000 |
| Gänclärbirliyi Sumqayit | Mehdi Huseynzade Stadium | 15,350 |
| Inter Baku | Shafa Stadium | 8,200 |
| Karabakh | Guzanli Olympic $Stadium^1$ | 15,000 |
| Karvan | Yevlakh Stadium | 5,000 |
| Khazar Lankaran | Lankaran City Stadium | 15,000 |
| FK Masallı | Anatoliy Banishevskiy Stadium | 7,500 |
| Neftchi Baku | Tofik Bakhramov Stadium | 29,858 |
| Olimpik Baku | Shafa Stadium | 8,200 |
| Simurq Zaqatala | Zaqatala City Stadium | 4,000 |
| Standard Baku | Shafa Stadium | 8,200 |
| Turan Tovuz | Tovuz City Stadium | 10,000 |

$^1Karabakh$ played their home matches at Surakhani Stadium in Baku before moving to their current stadium on 3 May 2009.

### 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 | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - | - |
| ABN Bärdä | Faig Jabbarov | | |
| Baku | Gjoko Hadžievski | | |
| Gabala | Ramiz Mammadov | Erreà | |
| Gänclärbirliyi Sumqayit | Sabir Aliyev | | |
| Inter Baku | Valentyn Khodukin | | |
| Karabakh | Rasim Kara | | |
| Karvan | Tabriz Hasanov | | |
| Khazar Lankaran | Agaselim Mirjavadov | | |
| FK Masallı | Gahraman Aliyev | | |
| Neftchi Baku | Anatoliy Demyanenko | | |
| Olimpik Baku | Asgar Abdullayev | Umbro | Silk Way Airlines |
| Simurq | Roman Pokora | | |
| Standard Baku | Yunis Huseynov | | |
| Turan Tovuz | Salahattin Darvand | | |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Neftchi Baku | Vlastimil Petržela | Sacked | 5 January 2008 | | Anatoliy Demyanenko | 5 January 2008 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Inter Baku (C) | 26 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 55 | 18 | +37 | 58 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Olimpik Baku | 26 | 17 | 7 | 2 | 29 | 7 | +22 | 58 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Neftçi Baku | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 42 | 18 | +24 | 55 | Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round |
| 4 | Khazar Lankaran | 26 | 14 | 10 | 2 | 44 | 16 | +28 | 52 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 5 | Qarabağ | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 25 | 16 | +9 | 41 | |
| 6 | Gabala | 26 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 33 | 36 | −3 | 36 | |
| 7 | Simurq | 26 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 31 | 25 | +6 | 36 | |
| 8 | Baku | 26 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 35 | 26 | +9 | 35 | |
| 9 | Standard Baku | 26 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 36 | 26 | +10 | 32 | |
| 10 | FK Masallı | 26 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 30 | 40 | −10 | 30 | |
| 11 | Karvan | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 23 | 36 | −13 | 23 | |
| 12 | Turan | 26 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 21 | 49 | −28 | 18 | |
| 13 | Gänclärbirliyi Sumqayit (R) | 26 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 21 | 68 | −47 | 14 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |
| 14 | ABN Bärdä (R) | 26 | 2 | 6 | 18 | 12 | 56 | −44 | 12 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |

* 1 2 Khazar Lankaran qualified for the first qualifiying round of the 1st qualifying round of the UEFA Cup as winners of the 2007–08 Azerbaijan Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ABB | BAK | GAB | GAS | INT | KAR | KHA | MAS | NEF | OLI | QAR | SIM | STA | TUR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| ABN Bärdä | | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| Baku | 0–0 | | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| Gabala | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Gänclärbirliyi Sumqayit | 4–0 | 0–2 | 0–6 | | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–6 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–5 | 1–1 |
| Inter Baku | 4–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 | | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Karvan | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Khazar Lankaran | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 4–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 |
| FK Masallı | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 0–3 | 4–1 | 0–3 | | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Neftçi Baku | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 |
| Olimpik Baku | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Qarabağ | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Simurq | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Standard Baku | 6–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 1–1 |
| Turan | 3–0 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–5 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | |

## Season statistics

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Khagani Mammadov | Inter | 19 |
| 2 | Branimir Subašić | Neftchi | 14 |
| 3 | Walter Guglielmone | Inter | 11 |
| 3 | Junivan | Olimpik-Shuvalan | 11 |
| 3 | Zaur Ramazanov | Khazar | 11 |
| 6 | Volodymyr Mazyar | Simurq | 10 |
| 7 | Roman Akhalkatsi | Karvan | 9 |
| 7 | Georgi Adamia | Neftchi | 9 |
| 9 | Vitali Balamestny | Gabala | 8 |
| 9 | Léo Rocha | Standard Baku | 8 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Branimir Subašić | Neftchi | Gänclärbirliyi | 6–2 | 18 August 2007 |
| Roman Akhalkatsi | Karvan | Turan | 5–1 | 1 September 2007 |
| Khagani Mammadov | Inter | Turan | 4–0 | 10 November 2007 |
| Vitali $Balamestny^4$ | Gabala | Gänclärbirliyi | 0–6 | 11 November 2007 |
| Anatolie Doroș | Standard | Gänclärbirliyi | 5–1 | 1 December 2007 |
| Nadir Nabiyev | Khazar | Gänclärbirliyi | 5–0 | 29 March 2008 |

* $^4$ Player scored 4 goals
