Azerbaijani football league system
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Azerbaijani football league system is a series of partially unconnected leagues for Azerbaijani football clubs. Unlike in many other nations, Azerbaijan runs separate concurrent leagues for professional football and amateur football, with no regular promotion or relegation between the professional and amateur leagues.
| Country | Azerbaijan |
|---|---|
| Sport | Association football |
| Promotion and relegation | Yes (men) No (women and amateur) |
| National system | |
| Federation | Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Top division |
|
| Second division | First League (men) |
| Cup competition | Azerbaijan Cup (men) |
| Association football in Azerbaijan | |
As of May 2025[update], Qarabağ are the current record holders with 12 titles.
Current system
Professional football
The current system has been in place since the creation of the Azerbaijan Premier League at the start of the 2001–02 season. For each division, its official name, sponsored name and number of clubs is given:
| Level | League(s) / Division(s) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professional Leagues | |||||||
|
1 |
Premyer Liqa | ||||||
|
2 |
I Liqa | ||||||
| Semi-Professional League | |||||||
|
3 |
II Liqa | ||||||
| Non-Professional Leagues | |||||||
| 4 | Region Liqası TBD clubs participate from 4 zones 16 club promotion to the final stage ↑ 1 promotion spot + 2 promotion play-off spot | ||||||
|
Capital and Northern Zone |
Southern Zone |
Center Zone |
North West and West Zone | ||||
| Level | League(s) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Azerbaijani Women's Football Championship | |||||||||||
Amateur football
Completely independent from the professional pyramid, there also exists an amateur league system. Azerbaijan's Amateur League is divided into four regions, which includes Baku, North, West and Central Region.
| Level | League/Division |
|---|---|
| 1 | Azərbaycan Həvəskarlar Liqası 36 clubs |
Cup eligibility
Domestic cups
All Azerbaijan Premier League and Azerbaijan First Division clubs directly enter the Azerbaijan Cup.
European cups
From season 2008-09, the top side in the Azerbaijan Premier League qualify for the second qualifying stage of Champions League, while the second and third placed teams qualifying for the first qualifying stage of UEFA Europa League. The winners of the Azerbaijan Cup also qualify for the Europa League's second qualifying stage.
While Azeri clubs initially entered the UEFA Women's Champions League from 2003, the removal of the senior league has meant that no Azeri team has competed since 2007.