Neftchi Baku PFC

Neftchi Baku PFC

Full name	Neftçi Peşəkar Futbol Klubu
Nickname(s)	Ağ-Qaralar (White and Blacks) Neftçiler (Oil Workers) Flaqman (Flag Officer)
Founded	March 18, 1937
Ground	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, Baku (Capacity: 29,858)
President	Sadig Sadigov
Head Coach	Arif Asadov
League	Azerbaijan Premier League
2009-10	5th
Home colours Away colours

Neftchi Baku PFC (Azerbaijani: Neftçi Peşəkar Futbol Klubu), also known simply as Neftchi, is an Azerbaijani football club based in the capital, Baku, that currently plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League. They are the most famous, popular and celebrated as well as the most successful Azerbaijani club with five Azerbaijan Premier League and four Azerbaijan Cup titles.

The club is one of the three teams in Azerbaijan, along with FK Qarabağ and Turan Tovuz which has participated in all Azerbaijan Premier League championships so far.

History

Soviet period

PFC Neftchi was founded in 1937.^[1] During the years of 1937-1967, it was known as Neftyanik and it was renamed Neftchi in 1968.^[2]

Neftchi played three spells in the Soviet Top League, in 1949-1950, 1960-1970, and 1977-1988, for a total of 23 years in the top division of Soviet football.^[2] The club appeared in the Soviet First League, the second-highest division, from 1946-1948, 1951-1959, 1973-1976, and 1989-1991, with its top finish in 1976 as the runner-up.^[2]

Neftyanik's top scorer in this early era was Azerbaijani footballing legend Alekper Mamedov, who also played for FC Dynamo Moscow; Mamedov netted 51 goals in league play during the 1950s and 1960's for the Black-Whites, despite playing for the prime of his career in Moscow.^[3]

Arguably, the club's greatest achievement was a 3rd place finish in the Soviet Top League in 1966, the highest finish for any Azerbaijani side in the Soviet era.^[4] The 1966 squad was made up of many of the all-time great Azerbaijani footballers,^[5] including forwards Anatoliy Banishevskiy (the UEFA Golden Player for Azerbaijan) and Kazbek Tuaev, midfielder Aleksandr Trophimov, and goalkeeper Sergey Kramarenko.^[6] Fans and journalists in Azerbaijan commemorated the 40th anniversary of Neftchi's success in 2006.^[7]

Azerbaijan Premier League

The club is currently one of the strongest teams in Azerbaijani Premier League, and claimed the Azerbaijan league title four times so far - 1992, 1995-96, 2003-04 and 2004-05. Neftchi also managed to win the CIS Cup in 2006 after defeating FBK Kaunas in the final.^[8]

In January 2008, Czech coach Vlastimil Petržela, was replaced by Ukrainian Anatoliy Demyanenko.^[9]

European competitions

Neftchi have advanced to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League twice, having defeated Bosnian champions - NK Široki Brijeg - and Icelandic champions - FH Hafnarfjarðar - in 2004 and 2005 respectively.^[10][11] Neftchi advanced to the third round of the 2008 Intertoto Cup, after defeating the Slovak club FC Nitra and the Belgian side K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot in the first two rounds.^[12]

Stadium

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium.

Neftchi Baku's home games are usually played at Tofik Bakhramov Stadium in Baku. Built by German prisoners of war in 1951 and constructed in the shape of C to honour Stalin, however it was renamed after famous football referee Tofik Bakhramov in 1993 after his death.^[13]The stadium also serves as the home ground of the Azerbaijan national football team and holds 30,000 making it the largest stadium in the country.^[14]

Crest and colours

Since the club's foundation, Neftchi have had four main crests, though all underwent minor variations. In 1949, Neftchi adopted as their first crest the image of an oil platform with russian n letter, which obviously contributed to the Oil Workers nickname, and remained for the next 27 years.^[15]

In 1977, Neftchi's crest was changed again as a ball and sunrise background elements added, which was to endure for the next two decades.^[15]

In 1997, Nefchi's crest was changed again as part of another attempt to modernise and to capitalise on new marketing opportunities.^[15]This was the first club badge without oil platform, as it was replaced by the national seal of the Baku. With new ownership, and the club's centenary approaching, combined with demands from fans for the club's traditional badge to be restored, it was decided that the crest should be changed again in 2004. The new crest was officially adopted for the start of the 2004–05 season and marks a return to the older design of the oil platform. As with previous crests, this one has appeared in traditional black and white colours.^[15]

Supporters

Neftchi fans during Azerbaijan Cup

Neftchi Baku is the most supported club in Azerbaijan, with 37 221 supporters organized in many fan clubs around the world, including USA, Turkey, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, and any other country with a sizeable Azeri community.^[16]

There are also many groups supporting Neftchi Baku but club's main fan base known as Flaqman (Flag officer).^[17]

Rivalry with Khazar Lankaran

The game between Neftchi and Khazar Lankaran is one of the biggest clashes in Azerbaijan. The relationship between the two clubs has always been known for its great animosity, as the classic opposes two geographic regions - with Neftchi and Khazar Lankaran representing the north and south of Azerbaijan, respectively.^[18][19][20]

Achievements

• Soviet Top League
  • Took part in 27 championships with 253 wins, 270 draws, 361 losses.^[2]
  • Highest Soviet Top League finish: 3rd place in 1966.^[21]

• Soviet Cup, Semi-Finalists: 4

1967, 1968, 1970, 1971^[22]

• Azerbaijan League Champions: 5

1992, 1995-96, 1996-97, 2003-04, 2004-05^[23]

• Azerbaijan Cup Winner: 5

1994-95, 1995-96, 1998-99, 2001-02, 2003-04

• CIS Cup Champions:

2006

League and domestic cup history

For UEFA club competition results, see next section below.

As of 27 June 2008:^[23][24]

UEFA club competition results

As of December, 2008.

Season	Cup's name	Round	Country	Club	Result
1995/96	UEFA Cup Winners Cup	1Q		APOEL F.C.	0-3, 0-0
1996/97	UEFA Cup	1Q		PFC Lokomotiv Sofia	2-1, 0-6
1997/98	UEFA Champions League	1Q		RTS Widzew Łódź	0-2, 0-8
1999/00	UEFA Cup	1Q		FK Crvena Zvezda	2-3, 0-1
2000/01	UEFA Cup	1Q		NK Hit Gorica	1-0, 1-3
2001/02	UEFA Cup	1Q		NK Hit Gorica	0-0, 0-1
2004/05	UEFA Champions League	1Q		NK Široki Brijeg	1-2, 1-0
		2Q		PFC CSKA Moscow	0-0, 0-2
2005/06	UEFA Champions League	1Q		FH	2-0, 2-1
		2Q		RSC Anderlecht	0-5, 1-0
2007/08	UEFA Cup	1Q		SV Ried	1-3, 2-1
2008/09	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R		FC Nitra	2-0, 1-3
		2R		K.F.C. Germinal Beerschot	1-1, 1-0 [25]
		3R		F.C. Vaslui	2-1, 0-2

Current squad

As of 8 August 2010

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Rauf Mehdiyev 2 DF Rail Malikov (captain) 3 MF Denis Cruz 5 DF Igor Mitreski 6 MF Slavčo Georgievski 7 FW Farid Guliev 8 MF Elmar Bakhshiev 9 MF Flavinho 10 FW Émile Mpenza 11 FW Javid Huseynov 12 GK Elchin Sadigov 14 FW Bahodir Nasimov (on loan from Rubin Kazan) 15 DF Ruslan Abishov 16 MF Alessandro

No. Position Player 17 MF Araz Abdullayev 18 MF Ruslan Amirjanov 19 MF Mirhuseyn Seyidov 21 MF Eshgin Guliyev 22 FW Ruslan Kurbanov 23 DF Tural Narimanov 24 GK Paulius Grybauskas 25 MF Javid Imamverdiyev 26 DF Tarlan Guliyev 27 MF Rashad Abdullayev 28 MF Amit Guluzade 29 FW Orkhan Hasanov 30 MF Vladimir Burduli

Notable former players

Managers

As of 9 August 2010.

References

External links

• Official website
• Neftchi at AFFA.AZ
• Neftchi at UEFA.COM
• Neftchi at EUFO.DE
• Neftchi at Weltfussball.de
• Neftchi at Playerhistory.com
• Neftchi at Transfermarkt.de
• Neftchi at National Football Teams.com
• Neftchi at Football-Lineups.com
• Club info on Soccerway.com
• CIS 2006 walkout