Emil Nazim ogly Balayev (; ; born 17 April 1994) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for Neftçi. Born in Russia, he plays for the Azerbaijan national team. He was selected as the footballer of the year in Azerbaijan in 2019.

Club career

As a youth player Balayev was a member of Neftçi youth system, before he was promoted to the first team in 2011. Balayev made his debut for Neftchi in an

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

match against

Sumgayit Sumqayit (or Sumgait; ; , ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city had a population of 427,000 at the beginning of 2024, making it the second largest city in ...

in September 2012. In 2013 Balayev was sent on a season loan to Araz-Naxçıvan. Balayev moved from Neftçi to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

in January 2014. However, he failed to make an appearance for the club and was released in June 2016. In January 2019, Balayev moved from Sabail to Kazakhstani club

Tobol The Tobol (, ) is a river in Western Siberia (in Kazakhstan and Russia) and the main (left) tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is , and the area of its drainage basin is . History The Tobol River was one of the four important rivers of the S ...

. He made his professional debut for Tobol in the

Kazakhstan Premier League The Kazakhstan Professional Football League (, ''Qazaqstan Premier Ligasy''), commonly referred to as the Kazakh Premier League or simply the Premier League, is a professional association football league in Kazakhstan and the highest level of the ...

on 9 March 2019, starting in the home match against

Irtysh Pavlodar FC Irtysh () is a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Pavlodar. Irtysh won the Kazakhstan Premier league in 1993 (as ''Ansat''), 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2003. The club was also founding members of the top league an ...

, which finished as a 3–0 win. On 31 January 2020, Balayev left Tobol by mutual consent. On 3 March 2020, Zira announced the signing of Balayev on a contract until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 10 July 2020, Balayev signed a contract with

Qarabağ FK Qarabağ Futbol Klubu () is an Azerbaijani professional football club that competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top flight of Azerbaijani football. The club originates from Aghdam in the Karabakh ( Azerbaijani: ''Qarabağ'') region, ...

. On 3 March 2022, Balayev left Qarabağ. On 4 March 2022,

club

Turan Turan (; ; , , ) is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical region, or a culture. The original Turanians were an Iranian tribe of th ...

announced the signing of Balayev. Balayev left Turan in June 2022. On 28 June 2023, Neftçi announced the return of Balayev on a two-year contract. On 26 June 2025, Balayev signed a new one-year contract with Neftçi.

International career

Balayev was called up to the Azerbaijan national team for the first time in September 2013 for a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

match against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. He made his International debut in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Croatia on 9 September 2019. Balayev was included in the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

of hosts Azerbaijan's under-23 team at the

2017 Islamic Solidarity Games The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games () was a multinational, multi-sport event that was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from May 12 to 22, 2017. Previously, the event was held in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and Indonesia in 2013. The second event, originally sch ...

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

, in which Azerbaijan went on to win the gold medal. Balayev made his

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

debut in 2019 against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

Career statistics

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 19 November 2019''

Honours

Neftchi Baku *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup () is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid ...

Araz-Naxçıvan *

Azerbaijan First Division The Azerbaijan First League () is the second highest professional division in Azerbaijani professional football. The league is run by AFFA. The winner promotes to Premier Division. History Due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all Azerbai ...

: 2013–14 Azerbaijan * Azerbaijan U23 *

Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games () is a multinational, multi-sport event. Managed jointly by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and Islamic Solidarity Sports Association (ISSA), the Games involve elite athletes of the OIC competing in a ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Individual *

Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year is an annual title awarded to the best Azerbaijani football player of the year. The award has been given since 1991, and the winner is elected by authorized journalists from the leading Azerbaijani sport media. ...

: 2019

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balayev, Emil 1994 births Living people Footballers from Volgograd Azerbaijani men's footballers 21st-century Azerbaijani sportsmen Azerbaijan men's international footballers Russian men's footballers Russian sportspeople of Azerbaijani descent Men's association football goalkeepers Azerbaijani expatriate men's footballers Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Neftçi PFK players Sumgayit FK players Araz-Naxçıvan PFK players Eintracht Frankfurt players Qarabağ FK players Sabail FK players FC Tobol players Azerbaijan Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Islamic Solidarity Games medalists in football Islamic Solidarity Games gold medalists for Azerbaijan 21st-century Russian sportsmen