The 2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League , also known as Misli Premyer Liqası due to sponsorship reasons, is the 34th season of the Azerbaijan Premier League, the highest tier football league of Azerbaijan. The season started on 15 August 2025.
Starting from the 2025–26 season, the foreign player quota has been abolished. A mandatory fee will be applied to all foreign players. At the same time, teams that include local players in their line-ups will receive financial bonuses. These bonuses will be funded by the revenues collected from the foreign player fees.
Beginning this season, the number of teams has been increased from 10 to 12. At the end of 2025–26 season, the team that finishes in 11th place in the Premier League will face the runner-up of the First League in a play-off match held at a neutral venue. The winner of this match will earn a spot in the next season’s Premier League. The team that finishes last will be relegated to the First League, while the First League champion will be promoted to the Premier League, automatically. Ahead of the new season, AFFA's Licensing Commission granted licenses to the following teams: Baku Sporting, Difai, İmişli, Karvan, Kəpəz, Qəbələ, Səbail, and Şamaxı. The official draw ceremony for the 2025–26 season took place on 18 July at the Flame Towers complex.
Teams Team changes Promoted from2024–25 Azerbaijan First DivisionRelegated to2025–26 Azerbaijan First DivisionGabala, Karvan, ImishliSabail
Sabail relegated to First Division after eight years in top tier.
Gabala return to top tier after one year absence, Imishli return to top tier after eighteen years absence and Karvan return to top tier after sixteen years absence.
Stadia and locations Note: Table lists in alphabetical order. TeamYear EstablishedLocationVenueCapacityAzərbaycan Peşəkar Liqası Araz Naxçıvan1967Nakhchivan, BakuDalga Arena6,502Gabala2005QabalaGabala City Stadium3,748Imishli2022ImishliHeydar Aliyev Stadium8,500Kapaz1959GanjaGanja City Stadium15,343Karvan Yevlakh2022YevlakhYevlakh City Stadium6,000Neftchi1937BakuNeftchi Arena10,289Qarabağ1987Aghdam, BakuTofiq Bahramov Stadium 31,200Sabah2017AbsheronBank Respublika Arena8,969Shamakhi1997ShamakhiShamakhi City Stadium2,176Sumgayit2010SumgaitMehdi Huseynzade Stadium9,502Turan Tovuz2014TovuzTovuz City Stadium6,500Zira2014Zira, BakuZira Sport Complex1,256
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointmentNeftçi Samir Abbasov Fired 24 November 20257th Sanan Gurbanov 24 November 2025 Sanan Gurbanov End of contract 9 December 20258th Yuriy Vernydub 9 December 2025 Araz-Naxçıvan Elmar Bakhshiyev Mutual Termination 25 December 20255th Andriy Demchenko 4 January 2026
Foreign players
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6Player 7Player 8Player 9Player 10Player 11Player 12Player 13Player 14Player 15Player 16Player 17Left during the season Araz-Naxçıvan Bruno Franco Ramon Machado Wanderson Maranhão Felipe Santos Issouf Paro Patrick Andrade Charles Boli Hamidou Keyta Ba-Muaka Simakala Bar Cohen Ayyoub Allach Cristian Avram Nuno Rodrigues Gabala Paulo Guimbila Eduardo Kunde Domi Massoumou Ibrahim Sangaré Isaac Amoah Prince Owusu Adriel Ba Loua Ismahil Akinade Salihu Nasiru Jaime Sierra Seydina Keita Jeando Fuchs İmişli Andrey Sinenko Juninho Ronaldo Rodrigues Diogo Rollo Rafael Viegas Edwin Banguera Ezekiel Morgan Yaw Moses Diogo Almeida Nikola Karaklajić Kapaz Jefferson Bento Pachu Adama Fofana Otar Aptsiauri Donald Dongo Ryonosuke Ohori Mahamadou Ba Olawale Onanuga Kacper Rosa Pedro Gomes Diogo Verdasca Vitor Feijão Karvan Moise Ngwisani Joy-Slayd Mickels Imani Barker Nika Chachashvili Shaquill Sno Olawale Doyeni Peter Kings Gavi Thompson Victor Rocha Pedro Mateus Kyle Spence Sam Durrant Saeed Irankhah Neftçi Sessi D'Almeida Kenan Pirić Igor Ribeiro Vincent Aboubakar Jordan Rezabala Imad Faraj Bassala Sambou Alessio Curci Falaye Sacko Edvin Kuč Ifeanyi Mathew Luis Ortíz Cristian Costin Moustapha Seck Freddy Vargas Qarabağ Pedro Bicalho Dani Bolt Kady Borges Matheus Silva Leandro Andrade Camilo Durán Kevin Medina Fabijan Buntić Abdellah Zoubir Emmanuel Addai Chris Kouakou Marko Janković Mateusz Kochalski Joni Montiel Oleksiy Kashchuk Sabah Akim Zedadka Ygor Nogueira Andrey Santos Ivan Lepinjica Zinédine Ould Khaled Aaron Malouda Joy-Lance Mickels Steve Solvet Kaheem Parris Stas Pokatilov Jesse Sekidika Tymoteusz Puchacz Veljko Simić Pavol Šafranko Umarali Rakhmonaliev Bojan Letić Njegoš Kupusović Şamaxı César António Lara David Oliveira Abdullahi Shuaibu Ricardo Apolinario Diogo Balau Ricardo Fernandes Andrei Tîrcoveanu Karim Rossi Alphonce Msanga Vladyslav Veremyeyev Sumgayit Abdoul Rachid Moumini Keffel Trésor Mossi Ronaldo Vásquez Rayan Senhadji Roi Kahat Masaki Murata Alexandre Ramalingom Easah Suliman Pedro Pinto Aleksa Janković Nikola Ninković Danylo Beskorovaynyi Turan Tovuz Henrique Jô David Tavares Haiderson Hurtado Ibrahima Wadji Denis Marandici Roderick Miller Jorge Silva Sergei Samok Roberto Olabe Álex Serrano Oleg Baklov Emmanuel Hackman Alex Souza Zira Yegor Bogomolsky Henrique Martins Júnior Ruan Renato Brahim Konaté Iron Gomis Leroy-Jacques Mickels Giorgi Papunashvili Davit Volkovi Stephane Acka Guima Issa Djibrilla Tiago Silva Ange Mutsinzi Abdul Aziz Batibie Eldar Kuliyev Vincent Thill In italics: Players that are on loan from another APL side. In bold:' Players that have been capped for their national team.
League table
Results Clubs play each other three times for a total of 33 matches each.
Promotion/relegation play-off
Season statistics
Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals1 Joy-Lance MickelsSabah192 Veljko SimićSabah113 Bassala SambouNeftçi10 Emin MahmudovNeftçi5 Karim RossiŞamaxı96 Ba-Muaka SimakalaAraz-Naxçıvan8 Camilo DuránQarabağ JôTuran Tovuz Domi MassoumouQabala10 Toral BayramovQarabağ7 Diogo Dos Santosİmişli Vincent AboubakarNeftçi Leandro AndradeQarabağ Aaron MaloudaSabah Kaheem ParrisSabah
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Stas PokatilovSabah8 Oleg BaklovTuran Tovuz3 Ricardo FernandesŞamaxı64 Kenan PirićNeftçi5 Shakhruddin MagomedaliyevQarabağ Cristian AvramAraz-Naxçıvan Tiago SilvaZira Andrey Sinenkoİmişli9 Mekhti DzhenetovSumgayit410 Mateusz KochalskiQarabağ2
See also 2025–26 Azerbaijan First League 2025–26 Azerbaijan Cup
References
External links
2025–26 Azerbaijan Premier League at Global Sports Archive