Azerbaijan national football team

1990s

After Azerbaijan gained its independence in 1991, AFFA — Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan — was created. In 1992, renowned Azerbaijani footballer Alekper Mamedov became the first head coach of the Azerbaijani national football team, compiling a 3–1 record as coach that includes the first ever national team victory, over Georgia on 25 May 1993.^[6][7] The national team was accepted as a provisional member of UEFA on 2 December 1993, and later as a full member in May 1994 at the 22nd UEFA Congress in Vienna.^[8][9] It also joined FIFA in June 1994 at the 49th FIFA Congress in Chicago.^[10] The security issues forced the team to play all of its home UEFA Euro 1996 qualifiers in Trabzon, Turkey, after UEFA imposed a ban on home matches on October 21, 1994.^[11][12][13]

2000s

As of the early 2000s, Azerbaijani football federation started to integrate more players to the national team through FIFA's eligibility rules.^[14] In February 2004, Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of the Brazil team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup was appointed its national coach. Despite a poor start, a 0–6 defeat to Israel on February 18, Azerbaijan won their first ever away match, 3–2 against Kazakhstan on April 28. In June 2005, following a 3–0 defeat by Poland, Torres stood down from the position, to be replaced by former Neftchi coach Vagif Sadygov, his third spell as coach of Azerbaijan. Shahin Diniyev took over as manager in November 2005. He resigned on 31 October 2007, and Gjoko Hadzievski was named as care-taking coach of Azerbaijan.^[15]

In April 2008, former German football player and coach Berti Vogts was appointed as a manager of Azerbaijan on a two-year contract.^[16] Azerbaijan had a mixed qualifying campaign, finishing with 5 points, just missing out on a last place to Liechtenstein with 2 points.

In November 2009, AFFA extended Berti Vogts' contract for a further two years, making him the first manager to manage the weak Azerbaijani national team in two qualification cycles.^[17][18]

2010s

In 2010, following a shock win over Turkey, the team reached 90th place in FIFA World Rankings, Azerbaijan's highest ever position in the country's football history.^[19][20] After victory over Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan also broke their scoring and points records by gaining 7 points and scoring 10 goals.^[21][22]

In November 2011, AFFA extended Berti Vogts' contract for a further two years, until the end of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification cycle.^[23] Under Vogts, Azerbaijan had some poor results, not being able to defeat second-string sides. Vogts faced major criticism, protest and demonstration from local supporters and the media.^[24][25] However, Azerbaijan managed to finish the qualification cycle in fourth place, the team's best ever finish.^[26] In December 2013, Vogts being granted a new two-year contract, with the aim to lead Azerbaijan through EURO 2016 qualifying.^[27] In July 2014, Azerbaijan beat its ranking record by reaching 73rd place in FIFA World Rankings. Following three straight losses, Vogts resigned from his post after spending six years in charge of Azerbaijan.^[28][29]

Succeeding Vogts as full-time manager was former Croatia international Robert Prosinečki. He guided the Azerbaijani team to another record points haul (10) in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying, but the team still finished fifth in the six-team Group C. Prosinečki resigned after deciding not to extend his contract with the Azerbaijan Football Federation and was succeeded by countryman Nikola Jurčević.

2020s

The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying proved to be a disaster for Azerbaijan as the team finished in bottom with a complete seven defeats, including a famous 1–5 at home against Slovakia, and only one draw, which was, surprisingly, against 2018 FIFA World Cup runners-up Croatia, the home of the manager. Nikola Jurčević departed following the poor performance of Azerbaijan. After the qualifying, Azerbaijan turned out to be the only country ever to not qualify for a tournament they co-hosted.

The qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup with new coach Gianni De Biasi also went horribly, with Azerbaijan getting only a single point in Group A in matches with strongholds Portugal and Serbia and secondary sides Ireland and Luxembourg. The Nations League that year was more successful. Azerbaijan was drawn into Group 3 of League C with Kazakhstan, Belarus and Slovakia. After failing to win against Kazakhstan and Slovakia and securing themselves a goalless draw against Belarus, the matches of the second leg were all wins. At the end, Azerbaijan finished second with 10 points, three points away from promoted first-place Kazakhstan. After losing three matches in the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying and drawing once, De Biasi got sacked on 22 October 2023. The games without a manager were equal: Azerbaijan won 2 matches out of four, including a surprising 3-0 defeat of already-eliminated Sweden. The other two matches were both lost.

In March 2024, the assistant manager Arif Asadov was hired as caretaker manager. Under Asadov, the team won two out of 4 games. In June 2024, Former UEFA Euro 2016 winning coach Fernando Santos was appointed as the new manager. The 2024-25 UEFA Nations League went badly, securing only a draw against Estonia and getting relegated. Azerbaijan also failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, being in a group with 2022 runners-up France and Iceland and Ukraine, with the latter two failing to qualify for the 2022 edition. They only secured a single point in a 1-1 draw against Ukraine.