The head coach of Azerbaijani football club Neftchi, Yuriy Vernydub, was forced to publicly clarify the situation surrounding the cooperation between the Baku club and Moscow’s Lokomotiv.
As reported by Idman.Biz, in mid-December 2025 it became known that Lokomotiv’s academy had signed international cooperation agreements with Neftchi and Minsk’s Dynamo.
The memorandum provides for an exchange of experience in youth player development, participation in tournaments in Azerbaijan, Belarus and Russia, coaching internships, educational projects, and the overall development of youth football.
As a result, Vernydub had to explain his attitude toward this agreement, taking into account his civic position.
"Journalists twisted the information. Some media outlets wrote that I would supposedly travel to Moscow. That does not make any sense. This cooperation agreement was signed between youth academies. It is the club’s right. What does that have to do with me? In the first team we do not have and cannot have a single Russian player. The youth teams also consist only of Azerbaijanis. Here I communicate in Ukrainian, and my words are conveyed to the players or interlocutors by a translator," Vernydub was quoted as saying by sport.ua.
It should be noted that Yuriy Vernydub took charge of Neftchi on December 9, 2025. On January 22, 2026, the Ukrainian specialist will turn 60.
Teymur Tushiyev
