# Zira FK

Zira Football Club (Azerbaijani: Zirə Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Zirə, Baku. The club competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League.

## History

The club was established in 2014 and immediately joined the Azerbaijan First Division.
Despite finishing 2nd in its inaugural season in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the club wasn't allowed to compete in the UEFA Europa League.
On 27 December 2016, Adil Shukurov had his contract as manager terminated by mutual consent, with Aykhan Abbasov taking over as manager until the end of the 2016–17 season.
Aykhan Abbasov resigned as manager on 29 August 2018, with Samir Abbasov being announced as his replacement the same day.
On 8 October 2019, Abbasov left Zira by mutual consent, with Zaur Hashimov being appointed as manager until the end of the season the following day.
On 17 July 2020, Rashad Sadygov was announced as Zira's new manager on a three-year contract.

## Domestic history

| Season | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Top goalscorer | Top goalscorer | Manager | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsor |
| Season | Div. | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Azerbaijan Cup | Name | League | Manager | Kit Manufacturer | Sponsor |
| 2014–15 | 2nd | 5th | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 61 | 19 | 63 | Quarterfinal | | | Bahram Shahguliyev | Kappa | Santral Electric |
| 2015–16 | 1st | 2nd | 36 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 42 | 31 | 62 | Quarterfinal | Nelson Bonilla | 14 | Adil Shukurov | Kappa | Santral Electric |
| 2016–17 | 1st | 4th | 28 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 29 | 26 | 39 | Quarterfinal | César Meza Colli | 4 | Adil Shukurov Aykhan Abbasov | Umbro | Santral Electric |
| 2017–18 | 1st | 4th | 28 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 36 | 30 | 44 | Quarterfinal | Richard Gadze | 7 | Aykhan Abbasov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2018–19 | 1st | 5th | 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 30 | 40 | 31 | Semifinal | Julio Rodríguez | 8 | Aykhan Abbasov Samir Abbasov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2019–20 | 1st | 4th | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 25 | 37 | 23 | Semifinal | Julio Rodríguez Nijat Suleymanov | 4 | Samir Abbasov Zaur Hashimov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2020–21 | 1st | 4th | 28 | 8 | 14 | 6 | 28 | 28 | 38 | Semifinal | Davit Volkovi | 8 | Rashad Sadygov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2021–22 | 1st | 3rd | 28 | 13 | 8 | 7 | 33 | 27 | 47 | Runners-up | Davit Volkovi | 11 | Rashad Sadygov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2022–23 | 1st | 5th | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 45 | 46 | 50 | Quarterfinal | Hamidou Keyta | 8 | Rashad Sadygov | Joma | Santral Electric |
| 2023–24 | 1st | 2nd | 36 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 33 | 22 | 58 | Runners-up | Qismət Alıyev | 6 | Rashad Sadygov | Joma | Santral Electric |

## European history

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 1QR | Differdange 03 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 |
| 2017–18 | UEFA Europa League | 2QR | Astra Giurgiu | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–3 |
| 2022–23 | UEFA Europa Conference League | 2QR | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Europa League | 1QR | Sheriff Tiraspol | 1–2 (a.e.t.) | 1−0 | 2–2 (4–5 p) |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | 2QR | DAC Dunajská Streda | 4–0 | 2–1 | 6–1 |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | 3QR | Osijek | 2–2 (a.e.t.) | 1–1 | 3–3 (2–1 p) |
| 2024–25 | UEFA Conference League | POR | Omonia | 1–0 | 0–6 | 1–6 |

### Notes

* 1QR: First qualifying round
* 2QR: Second qualifying round
* 3QR: Third qualifying round
* POR: Play-off round

## Stadium

Zira's home ground is the Zira Olympic Sport Complex Stadium, which has a capacity of 1,500.

## Players
### Current squad

    As of 10 March 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 3 | DF | RWA | Ange Mutsinzi |
| 4 | DF | BRA | Ruan Renato |
| 5 | DF | CIV | Stephane Acka |
| 6 | MF | UKR | Eldar Kuliyev |
| 7 | DF | AZE | Magsad Isayev |
| 8 | MF | AZE | Ismayil Ibrahimli (loan from Qarabağ) |
| 10 | MF | GEO | Giorgi Papunashvili |
| 11 | FW | AZE | Rustam Akhmedzade (loan from Qarabağ) |
| 13 | GK | AZE | Aydın Bayramov |
| 14 | DF | AZE | Elchin Alijanov |
| 15 | MF | CIV | Pierre Zebli |
| 16 | DF | AZE | Fuad Bayramov |
| 17 | MF | FRA | Iron Gomis |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | BRA | Martins Júnior |
| 19 | MF | GUI | Salifou Soumah |
| 21 | MF | AZE | Hajiagha Hajili |
| 22 | MF | AZE | Ildar Alekperov |
| 23 | FW | BRA | Raphael Utzig |
| 24 | MF | NGA | Yusuf Lawal |
| 29 | MF | AZE | Ceyhun Nuriyev |
| 32 | MF | AZE | Qismət Alıyev (captain) |
| 41 | GK | AZE | Anar Nazirov |
| 70 | MF | NIG | Issa Djibrilla |
| 90 | FW | GEO | Davit Volkovi |
| 97 | GK | POR | Tiago Silva |
| — | MF | MOZ | Guima |
For recent transfers, see Transfers summer 2024 and Transfers winter 2024–25.

## Coaching staff

| Position | Name |
| Head coach | Rashad Sadygov |
| Assistant coach | Eltun Yagublu Vagif Pashayev Borce Hristov Nariman Huseynov Vugar Mammad |
| Goalkeeping coach | Farhad Valiyev |

## Club records
### Top goalscorers

    As of match played 15 March 2025
| | Name | Years | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Continental | Total |
| 1 | Davit Volkovi | 2020–2022 2024–Present | 29 (84) | 2 (13) | 4 (8) | 35 (105) |
| 2 | Nelson Bonilla | 2015–2016 | 14 (29) | 3 (2) | 0 (0) | 17 (31) |
| 3 | Raphael Utzig | 2024–Present | 8 (40) | 3 (7) | 5 (8) | 16 (55) |
| 4 | Julio Rodríguez | 2019 | 12 (23) | 3 (5) | 0 (0) | 15 (28) |
| 4 | Richard Gadze | 2017–2018 2019-2020 | 13 (46) | 0 (4) | 2 (4) | 15 (54) |
| 4 | Hamidou Keyta | 2022–2023 | 13 (46) | 2 (6) | 0 (2) | 15 (54) |
| 7 | Salifou Soumah | 2023–Present | 13 (60) | 1 (9) | 0 (4) | 14 (63) |
| 8 | Aghabala Ramazanov | 2020–2022 | 12 (47) | 1 (4) | - (-) | 13 (51) |
| 9 | Qismət Alıyev | 2020–Present | 11 (138) | 0 (19) | 2 (10) | 13 (167) |
| 10 | Ragim Sadykhov | 2022–2024 | 10 (70) | 2 (9) | 0 (2) | 12 (81) |

### Most appearances

    As of match played 15 March 2025
| | Name | Years | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Continental | Total |
| 1 | Qismət Alıyev | 2020–Present | 138 (11) | 19 (0) | 10 (2) | 167 (13) |
| 2 | Ilkin Muradov | 2015–2024 | 134 (3) | 22 (2) | 2 (0) | 158 (5) |
| 3 | Dimitrios Chantakias | 2020–2024 | 108 (6) | 17 (1) | 2 (0) | 127 (7) |
| 4 | Hajiagha Hajili | 2020–Present | 100 (0) | 14 (0) | 9 (0) | 123 (0) |
| 5 | Tamkin Khalilzade | 2015–2018 2021–2022 | 103 (8) | 12 (0) | 4 (0) | 119 (8) |
| 6 | Adil Naghiyev | 2015 2015–2019 | 96 (6) | 7 (2) | 2 (0) | 105 (8) |
| 6 | Davit Volkovi | 2020–2022 2024–Present | 84 (29) | 13 (2) | 8 (4) | 105 (35) |
| 8 | Vugar Mustafayev | 2016–2019 | 79 (1) | 9 (0) | 3 (0) | 91 (1) |
| 9 | Rustam Akhmedzade | 2022–Present | 74 (6) | 6 (2) | 10 (0) | 90 (8) |
| 10 | Victor Igbekoyi | 2015–2018 | 81 (5) | 5 (0) | 3 (0) | 89 (5) |

### Managerial statistics

    As of match played 15 March 2025
| Name | Nat. | From | To | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | %W |
| Bahram Shahguliyev | Azerbaijan | 28 July 2014 | July 2015 | 31 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 61 | 20 | 061.29 |
| Adil Shukurov | Azerbaijan | July 2015 | 27 December 2016 | 56 | 24 | 14 | 18 | 60 | 58 | 042.86 |
| Aykhan Abbasov | Azerbaijan | 27 December 2016 | 29 August 2018 | 51 | 22 | 16 | 13 | 66 | 52 | 043.14 |
| Samir Abbasov | Azerbaijan | 29 August 2018 | 8 October 2019 | 37 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 41 | 50 | 032.43 |
| Zaur Hashimov | Azerbaijan | 9 October 2019 | 30 June 2020 | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 28 | 037.50 |
| Rashad Sadygov | Azerbaijan | 17 July 2020 | | 187 | 83 | 53 | 51 | 230 | 178 | 044.39 |
* Notes:
P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches GS – Goal scored GA – Goals against %W – Percentage of matches won
Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).