FC Baku

FC Baku

Full name	Football Club Baku
Nickname(s)	Zolaqlılar (Stripes); Paytaxtlılar (Capitals)
Founded	1936; re-established in 1997
Ground	Tofig Bakhramov Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan (Capacity: 29,858)
President	Hafiz Mammadov
Manager	Aleksandrs Starkovs
League	Azerbaijan Premier League
2010–11	6th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Football Club Baku (Azerbaijani: Bakı Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club in Baku, Azerbaijan.

FC Baku plays in the Azerbaijan Premier League and have won two Azerbaijan Premier League championships and two Azerbaijan Cups.

History

As a part of Dinamo society

Although in the official club documents and club's official badge a foundation year is listed as 1997, in fact, FC Baku was founded 61 year before as a part of Soviet Dinamo Sport Clubs System. The "Dinamo" society was officially created on April 18, 1923 on Felix Dzerzhinsky's initiative and under the sponsorship of the State Political Directorate (GPU), the Soviet political police, the predecessor of other later created Soviet security structures such as KGB, NKVD and MVD. The name of the society also became well-known internationally through many clubs in various sports, initially created under the auspecies of the Soviet Dynamo society or just bore the name "Dynamo", with many such clubs attaining much international acclaim, such as Dinamo Baku, FC Dinamo Bucureşti, FC Dynamo Kyiv, FC Dynamo Moscow, FC Dinamo Tbilisi, FC Dinamo Minsk, FC Dinamo Brest and so on. Many clubs, as FC Baku, now transformed into the regular private clubs of their respective national leagues, still function under their original Dinamo or Dynamo name but their history is the only connection with the old Dynamo society.

Soviet era

During 30 years (1936-1966) the team appeared 5 times at Soviet First League and 9 times at Soviet Cup without any success. In 1944, Dinamo Baku reached the quarter-final stage of Soviet Cup, but was beaten by Zenit Leningrad 1:0. The latest game to be held by Dinamo Baku, was a 1/16 finals match in 1965 against Dinamo Kirovabad at 1965–66 Soviet Cup (1:3). Since then, Dinamo Baku has been dissolved and was re-established in 1997 under the name of Dinamo, as an unification between FC Polis Akademiyasi and Qartal-95, both clubs from Baku.

Dinamo and Dinamo Bakılı period

The first season became magnificent for the team. Led by Shamil Heydarov, Dinamo finished 2nd and entered UEFA Cup 1998-99 season but was eliminated by FC Argeş Piteşti, 1:7 on aggregate, in Preliminary round. Azerbaijan Premier League 1997-98 season Dinamo participated with new head coach. Under the manage of Ruslan Abdullayev, the team passed the first part of tournament distance well, although 3rd place and 52 points were not enough for medals or European cups, and Dinamo completed the season at 6th place. Two following season Dinamo also finished 6th, but since 2000, the team was managed by Ruslan Abdullayev's son Elkhan Abdullayev, and was renamed into Dinamo Bakılı. In Azerbaijan Premier League 2001-02 season, after a disastrous performance, Dinamo Bakılı relegated to Azerbaijan First Division, but due to conflict between clubs and the AFFA next championship was held just two years later, in which the team participated under the name of Dinamo, last time in its history.

First title

In 2004, club renamed to the FC Baku, after changes by the new chairman.

New management began from stuff changes. Elkhan Abdullayev was replaced by Asgar Abdullayev immediately after the first defeat on second week. Azerbaijan national football team former manager was able to establish the team playing style. FC Baku gained some important victories over the opponents and was helding a pole position until February 2005. At the end of the season Asgar Abdullayev concentrated on Azerbaijan Cup, where his team reached the Final game.

On 28 May 2005, at Tofik Bakhramov Stadium FC Baku met FC Inter Baku, another new ambitious project, and won 2-1 after extra time. The decisive goal scored by André Luiz Ladaga. 2004-05 Azerbaijan Premier League season FC Baku finished 5th.

But the returning to European cups proved unsuccessfull. In UEFA Cup 2004-05 season first qualifying match, FC Baku was beaten by Slovakian side MŠK Žilina, 2-3 on aggregate, although they won a first leg in Baku, 1-0.

Fantastic 8 weeks and European Cups failure

The following season FC Baku was considered one of the favorites of the title race. For a long time, the team walked confidently to the title, but suddenly began losing points, and after the draw in Kazakh with FK Goyazan, Asgar Abdullayev was sacked and replaced by the teams director Boyukaga Hajiyev. And a miracle happened. Led by Hajiyev, FC Baku won latest 8 championship games consecutively and won the title. The next season FC Baku finished 3rd.

FC Baku twice involved in European club tournaments with Hajiyev. Both times the experiment turned out to be unsuccesfull. Initially, the team failed 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, losing to Sioni Bolnisi, 1-2 on aggregate. For a next season, in UEFA Intertoto Cup 2007, FC Baku was stopped by FC Dacia Chisinau after 2-2 on aggregate and 1:3 on penalty kicks. Hajiyev left the team in 2007.

Second championship

FC Baku line up before a 2009–10 UEFA Champions League 2QR match against FK Ekranas

In 2008, after a bad first season, the club celebrated their second title with Gjoko Hadžievski. Under his charge, FC Baku became the first Azerbaijani team to qualify to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. The team passed FK Ekranas in the second qualifying round after 2–2 in Lithuania and 4–2 win in Tofik Bakhramov Stadium in the second leg.

In 2010, the club handed two-match suspension by UEFA for fielding Joël Epalle, who was ineligible player at the time despite winning both legs against FK Budućnost Podgorica.

A long period of decline followed the success of the 2008 to the end of the decade. Despite the appointment of famous names such as Bülent Korkmaz, Winfried Schäfer and Aleksandrs Starkovs, the club did not achieve any success and squandered large sums of money on unsuccessful signings.

Colours and logo

FK Baku's Logo

FC Baku's traditional kit is a white and blue shirt, white shorts with grey socks. Their away kit is all blue. FC Baku's kits are manufactured by Macron and sponsored by Baghlan Group Company, a limited liability company which started with the transportation of oil and dry cargoes, later have integrated all fields of specialization into one company, known as Baghlan Group FZCO since the beginning of 2002, with headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The club sponsored by the Baghlan Group Company and ZQAN Holding.

Kit makers

• 1936–1966 - None
• 1997–2004 - Indefinite
• 2004–2007 - Umbro
• 2007–2008 - Lotto
• 2008–2009 - Umbro
• 2009–2010 - Erreà
• 2010–2011 - Kappa
• 2011–Present - Macron

FC Baku's current logo is a popular Maiden Tower in Baku. The Maiden Tower, is a tower in Old City Baku, originally on the shore of the Caspian Sea. It was constructed in the 12th century, or possibly earlier – its architectural style and construction sequence is obscure, and estimates for its age go back to an unlikely 2,500 years. It was built by the 12th century architect Masud ibn Davud. Due to land reclamation in the early 20th century the tower is now separated from the Caspian by a busy main road and public gardens. The Tower is a noted landmark and one of Azerbaijan's most distinctive emblems. The logo of FC Baku perfectly describes that the team is from the capital of Azerbaijan.

Stadium

Tofik Bakhramov Stadium was built in 1952. It is named after famous football referee, Tofik Bakhramov. Stadium built by German PoWs and constructed in the shape of C to honour Stalin, however it was renamed back to Tofik Bakhramov in 1993 after his death. FC Baku's home stadium is normally the Tofik Bakhramov Stadium, which has a capacity of 30,000 fans. The Tofik Bakhramov Stadium stadium is also used for the Azerbaijan national football team and Neftchi Baku. In 2008 the president of FC Baku Hafiz Mammadov, decided to build up a new stadium which will have a capacity of 10,000 fans. The new stadium expected to be finish 2010, but construction was holded.

League and domestic cup history

Soviet Period

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup
1936	N/P									1/32 Finals
1937	N/P									1/64 Finals
1944	N/P									Quarter Finals
1945	2nd	14	27	3	7	7	17	25	13	1/8 Finals
1947	2nd	7	14	3	1	10	18	32	7	Preliminary Round
1948	2nd	7	18	7	2	9	26	28	16	Did not enter
1953	N/P									1/64 Finals
1960	2nd	3	30	15	6	9	54	40	36	Did not enter
1961	2nd	16	30	7	2	21	22	26	16	Preliminary Round
1964	N/P									Preliminary Round
1965-66	N/P									Preliminary Round

(N/P) = Not Participated

Post-independence period

Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Domestic Cup
1997-98	1st	2	26	16	6	4	48	20	54
1998-99	1st	6	36	18	5	13	54	34	59	Semi-Finals
1999-00	1st	6	22	9	4	9	21	17	31	Quarter-Finals
2000–01	1st	6	20	9	2	9	30	29	29	Semi-Finals
2001–02	1st	11	30	0	4	26	17	70	4	1/8 Finals
2003–04	1st	5	26	12	5	9	45	32	41	1/8 Finals
2004–05	1st	5	34	21	10	3	60	14	73	Winners
2005–06	1st	1	26	18	4	4	42	12	58	Quarter-Finals
2006–07	1st	3	24	14	6	4	25	10	48	Quarter-Finals
2007–08	1st	8	26	8	11	7	35	26	35	Quarter-Finals
2008–09	1st	1	26	20	2	4	54	13	62	Semi-Finals
2009–10	1st	2	42	17	14	11	41	32	65	Winners
2010–11	1st	6	32	10	10	12	33	32	40	Semi-Finals

Achievements

• Azerbaijan League Champions: 2

2005/06, 2008/09

• Azerbaijan Cup Winner: 2

2004/05, 2009/10

European record

As of July 21, 2009.

Competition	Matches	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	6	2	2	2	7	8
UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League	8	2	0	6	7	22
UEFA Intertoto Cup	2	0	2	0	2	2
Total	16	4	4	8	16	32

Season	Competition	Round		Club	Home	Away
1998/99	UEFA Cup	1Q		FC Argeş Piteşti	0–2	1–5
2005/06	UEFA Cup	1Q		MŠK Žilina	1–0	1–3
2006/07	Champions League	1Q		Sioni Bolnisi	1–0	0–2
2007	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1Q		Dacia Chisinau	1–1	1–1 (p 1-3)
2009–10	Champions League	2QR		FK Ekranas	4–2	2–2
		3QR		Levski Sofia	0–0	0–2
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	4QR		FC Basel	1–3	1–5
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	2QR		FK Budućnost	0-3	2-1

Current squad

As of 19 February 2012

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Marko Šarlija 2 DF Duje Baković 3 DF Deniss Ivanovs 6 MF Ibrahim Kargbo 7 MF Deividas Česnauskis 8 MF Juninho 9 FW Māris Verpakovskis 10 MF Lucas Horvat 11 MF Elvin Mammadov 14 DF Elvin Aliyev (vice-captain) 15 MF Jamshid Maharramov (captain)

No. Position Player 16 GK Aqil Mammadov 19 FW Nurlan Novruzov 21 DF Novruz Mammadov 23 GK Khalidou Sissokho 24 MF Nenad Kovačević 25 DF Shahriyar Aliyev 36 FW Winston Parks 77 MF Aleksandar Šolić 98 FW Koke 99 MF Rahman Hajiyev

Notable former players

Argentina Fernando Nestor Pérez Azerbaijan Rafael Amirbekov Andrezinho Elvin Əliyev Fábio Emin Imamaliev Leandro Gomes Rail Melikov Ceyhun Sultanov Bakhtiyar Soltanov

Brazil Jabá Leonardo Rocha Croatia Ernad Skulić Georgia Amiran Mujiri Moldova Vadim Borets Alexei Savinov

Notable managers

For more details on this topic, see List of FC Baku managers.

The following managers have all won at least one trophy when in charge of FC Baku:

Name	Period	Trophies
Asgar Abdullayev	2004–06	Azerbaijan Cup
Boyukagha Hajiyev	2006–07	Azerbaijan Premier League
Gjoko Hadžievski	2007–09	Azerbaijan Premier League
Cüneyt Biçer	2010	Azerbaijan Cup

External links

• Official website
• FK Baku at AFFA.AZ
• FK Baku at UEFA.COM
• FK Baku at EUFO.DE
• FK Baku at Weltfussball.de
• FK Baku at Playerhistory.com
• FK Baku at Transfermarkt.de
• FK Baku at National Football Teams.com
• FK Baku at Football-Lineups.com