“I am not particularly happy about the dismissal of Fernando Santos from the post of head coach of Azerbaijan’s national football team. Because once Santos leaves, they will bring in some ‘Pantush.’ Instead of developing football, they keep changing coaches. They don’t understand that until youth football develops in the country, there will be no football in Azerbaijan.”
These comments were made to Teleqraf.az by Milli Majlis deputy and devoted football fan Aqil Abbas, Idman.biz reports.
“Currently, the football academies in the country are working very poorly. Some of them are practically non-existent. They will also appoint a foreigner to head the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA),” he noted.
Aqil Abbas stated that the country has plenty of local football specialists: “If we are going to lose, let’s lose with our own. A coach like Tarlan Ahmadov is out there ‘running around,’ yet they bring someone else in as head coach. Today, six of the coaches of teams representing Azerbaijani football in the top league are foreigners. How is that possible? Well, it’s up to them. In any case, things will get better. In 10–20 years, football in Azerbaijan will develop.”
Fernando Santos had been the head coach of the Azerbaijan national team since the summer of 2024. Under his leadership, the team lost 9 of 11 matches and drew 2.
Additionally, Azerbaijan’s national team lost 5:0 to Iceland in their first match of the 2026 World Cup qualifying stage.
Idman.biz
