In September, the mutual agreement between Gara Garayev and Neftchi to terminate his contract was followed by a surprising move: his recent agreement with Araz-Nakhchivan made significant waves in the sports world.
Idman.biz reports that the veteran midfielder’s decision to join the team from the Autonomous Republic was unexpected, as he was nearing the end of his career, according to Sportinfo.az.
The surprise transfer was orchestrated by Elmar Bakhshiyev, the head coach of Araz, who claimed that it was his initiative to bring Garayev to the team. However, this statement, as often happens with Bakhshiyev, turned out to be less than truthful.
Although Bakhshiyev rarely gives candid interviews, in this case, he also concealed the truth. But the facts quickly came to light, and this time, there was no need to wait 40 days for the truth to emerge.
Elkhan Mammadov, who had been the General Secretary and Executive Vice President of AFFA from 2007 to 2022, who played a central role in facilitating Garayev’s transfer to Araz.
On November 1, Mammadov was appointed as the Director of Member Associations at FIFA, a position that provides him with significant influence over such transfers.
Mammadov maintains a strong relationship with the leadership of Araz, and one of Baxshiyev’s main supporters is also Mammadov. For many years, Mammadov essentially controlled AFFA, and he leveraged his connections to facilitate Garayev’s move.
It was at Mammadov’s direction that Bakhshiyev acted—otherwise, Bakhshiyev would not have waited to act if it had been his original plan.
Had the former coach of Gabala shown interest in signing Garayev earlier, he would not have waited for instructions from the former Director of the European National Associations Department at FIFA.
By the time Garayev was transferred to Araz, he had been without a club for more than three months, which raises questions about why Baxshiyev didn’t move earlier if he had always planned to bring the player on boarde
Idman.biz
