The 2010–11 Azerbaijan Premier League (known as the Unibank Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons) was the nineteenth season of the top tier Azerbaijan Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The fixtures were announced on 29 July 2010; the season began on 7 August 2010 and ended on 28 May 2011.19-cu Azərbaycan Premyer Liqasının təqvimi Neftchi Baku were the eventual champions, winning their first Azerbaijani championship since 2005.
The league was competed over two stages. The first stage consisted of a regular home-and-away round-robin schedule for a total of 22 matches per team. The competition was then split in half, with the teams ranked first through sixth playing out the championship and the European spots while the bottom six teams having to avoid one of the two relegation places. In contrast to the previous season, each team transferred their full record from the first to the second stage.
Adidas provided their Jabulani match ball for the season.
Teams Standard Sumgayit and Karvan had been relegated to the Azerbaijan First Division after finishing 11th and 12th, respectively, at the end of last season. They were replaced by First Division champions Ganja and runners-up MOIK Baku.
Olimpik-Shuvalan Baku were renamed AZAL Baku prior to the start of the season."Olimpik-Şüvəlan" adını dəyişib, AZAL oldu АЗАЛ в премьер-лиге
Stadia and locations
TeamLocationVenueCapacityAzərbaycan Peşəkar Liqası AZALBakuAZAL Stadium3,000BakuTofig Bahramov Stadium30,000GanjaGanjaGanja City Stadium25,000InterBakuShafa Stadium8,150KhazarLankaranLankaran City Stadium15,000MOIK BakuBakuMOIK Stadium1,000MughanSalyanSalyany Olympic Stadium2,000NeftchiBakuIsmat Gayibov Stadium5,000QarabağAghdamGuzanli Olympic Stadium2,000Gabala FCGabalaGabala City Stadium2,000SimurqZaqatalaZaqatala City Stadium3,500TuranTovuzTovuz City Stadium10,000
Personnel and sponsoring TeamHead coachTeam captainKitmakerShirt sponsorAZAL Nazim Suleymanov Agil NabiyevUmbroSilk Way Aleksandrs Starkovs Jamshid MaharramovKappaFK Ganja Mehman Allahverdiyev Azer MammadovAdidasInter Kakhaber Tskhadadze Vladimir LevinAdidasIBAKhazar Mircea Rednic Kamran AgaevPumaPalmaliMOIK Baku Gahraman Aliyev Farid HashimzadehUmbroMughan Bahman Hasanov Elnur AbdullayevOlympikusNissanNeftchi Arif Asadov Rail MalikovAdidasSOCARQarabağ Gurban Gurbanov Aslan KerimovAdidasAzersun HoldingQabala Tony Adams Kanan KarimovErreàHyundaiSimurq Gjoko Hadžievski Rasim RamaldanovUmbroTuran Asgar Abdullayev Vurgun HuseynovUmbro
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointmentGabala Ramiz MammadovEnd of contract10 May 2010 Tony Adams12 May 2010FK Baku Cüneyt BiçerEnd of contract10 June 2010 Winfried SchäferБакы выбрал Винфрида Шефера (ОБНОВЛЕНО) 10 June 2010Simurq PFC Roman PokoraSacked18 June 2010 Gjoko HadžievskiХаджиевски возглавил Симург 18 June 2010Turan Tovuz Nizami SadygovSacked29 June 2010 Sakit AliyevСмена тренера в клубе премьер-лиги 29 June 2010Khazar Lankaran Agaselim MirjavadovАгасалим Мирджавадов: Я ухожу из Хазар-Лянкярана Resigned8 July 2010 Mircea Rednic“Xəzər Lənkəran”ın yeni baş məşqçisi Mirça Rednik oldu 15 July 2010Turan Tovuz Sakit AliyevРеваз Дзодзуашвили назначен на пост главного тренера «Турана» Sacked30 September 2010 Revaz Dzodzuashvili30 September 2010FK Mughan Almir HurtićМугань осталась без главного тренера Resigned13 November 2010 Bahman Hasanov13 NovemberTuran Tovuz Revaz DzodzuashviliEnd of contract23 December 2010 Naci Şensoy25 December 2010FK Baku Winfried SchäferSacked6 January 2011 Aleksandrs Starkovs16 January 2011FK Ganja Fuad IsmayilovResigned17 March 2011 Mehman Allahverdiyev 18 March 2011Turan Tovuz Naci ŞensoySacked6 May 2011 Asgar Abdullayev6 May 2011
First round
League table
Results
Second round The league was split into two groups; however, each team retained its record from the first round.
Championship group The top six teams of the first phase participate in this group, which will decide which team will win the championship. Additionally, teams in this group compete for one 2011–12 Champions League and two Europa League spots.
The winners will qualify for the Champions League Second qualifying round, with the runners-up and third place team earning a spot in the Europa League first qualifying round.
Table
Results
Relegation group
Table
Results
Season statistics
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Georgi AdamiaQarabağ182 Bahodir NasimovNeftchi Baku153 FlavinhoNeftchi Baku114 Rauf AliyevQarabağ10 Gvidas JuškaAZAL10 JunivanGence105 Deon BurtonGabala9 Sabir AllahquliyevFK Gence96 Winston ParksKhazar87 Rashad AbdullayevNeftchi Baku7 JabáFK Baku7
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Bahodir Nasimov Neftchi Baku Simurq 4–0 Giorgi Adamia Qarabağ Neftchi Baku 3–0
Scoring First goal of the season: Bachana Tskhadadze for Simurq against Ganja (7 August 2010) Fastest goal of the season: 1st minute, Bahodir Nasimov for Neftchi Baku against Simurq (21 August 2010) Latest goal of the season: 94 minutes, George Gulordava for FK Mughan against Simurq (12 March 2011) Largest winning margin: 5 goals MOIK Baku 0–5 Ganja (2 October 2010) AZAL 5–0 Inter Baku (16 October 2010) Highest scoring game: 8 goals Neftchi Baku 6–2 Ganja (23 October 2010) Most goals scored in a match by a single team: 6 goals Neftchi Baku 6–2 Ganja (23 October 2010) Most goals scored in a match by a losing team: 3 goals Simurq 4–3 Ganja (19 May 2011)
Clean sheets Most clean sheets: 19 Neftchi Baku Gabala Fewest clean sheets: 4 MOIK Baku
Discipline
Most yellow cards (club): 77 FK Mughan Most yellow cards (player): 12 Zurab Dzamsashvili (Ganja)
Most red cards (club): 6 Baku Ganja Most red cards (player): 2 Aziz Guliyev (Baku) Ramal Huseynov (Ganja)
Monthly awards MonthPlayer of the MonthPlayerClubSeptember Bahodir NasimovNeftchi BakuOctober FlavinhoNeftchi BakuNovember Zouhir BenouahiAZALDecember Samir AliyevSimurgFebruary FlavinhoNeftchi BakuMarch Rauf AliyevFK QarabagApril Winston ParksKhazarMay Giorgi AdamiaQarabağ
References