“It’s easy to kick when you are down. The reason behind our football being in such a worse state is not solely the national team.
Idman.biz reports that in an interview with Report, former Azerbaijan national team head coach Shahin Diniyev shared his thoughts on the team’s unsuccessful campaign i n the UEFA Nations League and their relegation to League D:
“We should not just blame the players and the head coach as the sole culprits. Everyone shares the responsibility here. Aren’t there those responsible for the players and coaches being in this situation? The national team is not the only one to blame for where our football stands today. We’re facing significant problems. If we keep searching, we won’t find the answer, just as we haven't for 32 years. If we continue digging in the same place, we’ll head in the wrong direction. We need a fundamental change – a concept and strategy. Football is a broad field. It encompasses everything from youth football, infrastructure, financial resources, education, and more. Everything is interlinked. We need a new strategy. In fact, we’ve never had a strategy in place.”
Diniyev emphasized that substantial changes are needed in Azerbaijani football:
"At least we’ve hit rock bottom by dropping to League D. There's nowhere further down to go. But we must rise again. In the past, we thought we could trip up other teams in qualifiers, which was the wrong mindset. As soon as we saw our group, we’d start calculating points. But when we looked at the strength of our opponents, we realized we were not superior. Most of the players on the Estonia team, whom we couldn’t defeat in the Nations League, play in top-tier leagues. Why should we have beaten Sweden or earned points against them? We need to fix football as a whole. Now, we all know where we stand.”
The experienced coach also expressed doubt about Azerbaijan’s chances of qualifying for the 2028 European Championship:
“We need to look at the younger age groups first. If we get good generations from U21, U19, and U17, we can set such a goal. But even in 10 years, I don’t see such success. It’s easy to criticize players and coaches. But what about those who brought them to this point? The players coming from the younger age groups will be the ones playing for the national team in the future. Do you see a perspective? I don’t. We need a big concept and strategy, and that will take many years. We need to make effective use of that time. We must build a strategy that fits our mentality.”
Diniyev, who last worked with Sabail, was the head coach of the Azerbaijan national team from 2005 to 2007.
Idman.biz
