An interview with Zaur Pashayev, the former basketball player who ended his career with the Azerbaijan national team, by Idman.biz.
- Yesterday, you played your final game in the first qualifying round of the 2027 World Cup (Europe), losing 55-85 to Switzerland. How would you describe that moment?
- No athlete wants to end their career. But when the time comes, you have no choice but to finish. It's important both because of age and to make room for younger
players. I’ll be turning 42. I thought it was time to step aside and give the opportunity to younger basketball players. That’s why I said goodbye to the national team.
- How did it feel to end your career with such a heavy defeat?
- I wouldn't have wanted to end like this. But that’s sports—there are wins and losses. That’s how it happened.
- Looking back, what did Zaur Pashayev bring to the national team?
- Everyone knows that basketball gave me a lot. I’ve done my best to push our basketball forward. If I’ve achieved some progress, I’m happy with that. I won two Islamic Solidarity Games gold medals, the Small Countries European Championship, and became a champion in Georgia, as well as a Super Cup winner. I will continue working to train new basketball players. I want to start a career as a professional coach, not only in our country but also in Europe.
- The era of Zaur Pashayev, Amil Hamzayev, and Orkhan Aydin is slowly coming to an end. What do you think will happen next? How will this generational change impact the results?
- Yes, Amil and Orkhan are not young anymore. But they can still play for another 2-3 years. I played until I was 41 (laughs). Both of them can continue playing until they’re 40. After them, we have young players. However, due to a 10-15-year gap in Azerbaijani basketball, the generation that follows us is quite small. If that gap hadn’t existed, many strong players would have emerged. Some of them would have been even stronger than me or Orkhan. Still, we have promising young players like Endar Poladkhanli, Akbar Mammadov, Shirzad and Elshad Shirzadov brothers, and Kamran Mammadov. After Emin Amrullayev was elected president of the Azerbaijan Basketball Federation, there has been more focus on this sport, and the young talents I mentioned are beginning to develop. Until then, each of them was engaged in other jobs. Although they were involved in sports, they worked elsewhere. If this trend continues, we will see a new generation in 2-3 years. For this to happen, the national championship should continue for at least 4 more years. When the 15-year-olds turn 18, they will be playing at a very high level. I believe this will happen.
- Which of the players you mentioned do you believe will become leaders?
- Shīrzad, Elshad, Endar, and Akbar are all in the mix. Physically, Poladkhanli plays very well. All of our players are strong, but Endar stands out in a very positive way. After Amil and Orkhan, he will take over the leadership role. Every young player is strong in their own position. They need to work on themselves to contribute to the national team.
- Azerbaijani basketball has not been an easy journey for you. In recent years, we’ve seen rapid development in the national championship. If this environment existed during your time, would we have seen an even stronger Zaur Pashayev?
- Between 2001-2006, under Rimas Kurtinaitis’ coaching, we had a great national championship in Azerbaijan. Those years were an exception, and other times were almost wasted. In 2010, I moved to Georgia, where I played for 8 years. After that, I spent a year in Ukraine. I didn’t feel the gap in Azerbaijani basketball, but it had a negative effect on many young players here, stunting their development. The lack of basketball in Azerbaijan for 10 years was really detrimental. As long as our championship exists, the goal is to keep growing at the highest level.
Emin Aga
Idman.biz
