The Azerbaijani football league system is a series of generally unconnected leagues for

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

i football clubs. The Azerbaijani system is more complicated than many other national

league system A league system is a hierarchy of leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in many sports in ...

s, consisting of two completely separate systems of leagues and clubs, senior football and junior football. The two systems have nothing to do with the ages of the players involved. In senior football in Azerbaijan there are two men's national leagues, the Azerbaijan Premier League and the Azerbaijan First Division, and one women's national league, the Azerbaijani Women's Football Championship which is run less regularly. There are also several leagues (most notably the Azerbaijani Regional League), but there is no regular promotion or relegation between the regional leagues and the national league. PFC Neftchi Baku are the current record holders with 5 titles.

Rejection of a pyramid system

Overall, the structure of football in Azerbaijan is amongst the most fractured and multi-faceted in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, being unique in having a plurality of adult male governing bodies (with Seniors, Juniors and Amateurs - see below). It is also unusual in the modern era in having declined to create a structured pyramid system, and as a result it is practically impossible for clubs at the bottom of the system to progress to the top, or for weak clubs to be relegated down the leagues.

Current system

Senior football

The current system has been in place since the creation of the Azerbaijan Premier League at the start of the 2001-2002 season. For each division, its official name, sponsored name and number of clubs is given: Below this national structure, but entirely separate of it and of each other, are 9 regional leagues, which include the North, West, Nakhchivan, Central, Karabakh, Baku, South and North-West Regional Football Leagues. They are all overseen by the Azerbaijan Football Association but they do not participate in the Azerbaijan Cup, with most clubs ineligible due to having inadequate stadiums. The women's league was first formed in 2003, though it was not then held between 2008-23 except for 2 and a half seasons.Archived 2021-22 Championship
/ref> Only a top division has been run and the number of teams has varied considerably before.

Amateur football

Azerbaijan's Amateur League is divided into four regions, which includes Baku, North, West and Central Region.

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 UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. 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 The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

from 2003, the removal of the senior league has meant that no Azeri team has competed since 2007.

References

External links

Azerbaijan Football Association

Professional Football League of Azerbaijan
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