With less than a month remaining before the start of the European Golden League, the Azerbaijan women's national volleyball team are entering a decisive phase of preparation ahead of this year’s home European Championship.
As reported by İdman.Biz, the tournament will serve as a major test event for the national side, which is aiming to rebuild its competitiveness on the international stage after several difficult campaigns in recent years.
Traditionally, the European Golden League is viewed by many participating nations as an opportunity to test younger players and experiment with squad depth. Azerbaijan are also expected to assess emerging talent, especially after domestic competition in the national championship intensified over the last few seasons, giving younger players more consistent match experience.
However, the return of several experienced figures underlines the importance of this summer’s campaign. Among them is Ayshan Abdulazimova, who recently returned to Azerbaijan after many years in Hungarian volleyball and won the domestic title with Turan Volleyball Club.
Also back in the squad is Elizaveta Ruban, who missed the previous two EuroLeague campaigns but enjoyed a productive season with Russian side Leningradka Saint Petersburg. Setter Kristina Besman, who played for Omichka Omsk, has also joined the training camp.
Head coach Faig Garayev stressed that building a competitive national team ahead of the European Championship remains one of the federation’s top priorities.
“Our strategic task is to return the national team to a high level. If the clubs also work properly, then in three or four years we will see serious progress,” Garayev told İdman.Biz.
Azerbaijan will begin their European Golden League campaign with home matches against Sweden women's national volleyball team on 5 June and Estonia women's national volleyball team on 7 June.
The team will then travel to Spain, where they are scheduled to face North Macedonia women's national volleyball team on 12 June before taking on the hosts a day later. The final stage of the group phase will take place in Skopje, where Azerbaijan will meet Israel women's national volleyball team on 19 June and Switzerland women's national volleyball team the following day.
After finishing eighth two years ago and bottom of the standings last season, Azerbaijan will hope the combination of experienced leaders and emerging talent can help the team take a significant step forward ahead of the home European Championship.
