# 1996–97 Azerbaijan Top League

The 1996–97 Azerbaijan Top League was contested by 16 teams and won by Neftchi Baku. Champions are Garabag Agdam thanks to "youth points" from the U-15 and U-16 Championships.

## Teams
### Stadia and locations

| Team | Venue | Capacity |
| Azerbaijan U-18 | | |
| Bakı Fahlasi | Ismat Gayibov Stadium | 5,000 |
| Fərid Baku | | |
| Kapaz | Ganja City Stadium | 26,120 |
| Khazri Buzovna | | |
| Khazar Sumgayit | | |
| Kur Nur | Yashar Mammadzade Stadium | 5,000 |
| MOIK Baku | Shafa Stadium (IV field) | 8,152 |
| Neftchi Baku | Tofik Bakhramov Stadium | 29,858 |
| Pambygchi Barda | Barda City Stadium | 10,000 |
| Pambiqci Neftcala | Nariman Narimanov Stadium | 2,000 |
| Police Academy | Tofik Bakhramov Stadium | 29,858 |
| Qarabağ | Guzanli Olympic Stadium$^1$ | 15,000 |
| Shamkir | | |
| Turan Tovuz | Tovuz City Stadium | 10,000 |
| Viləş Masallı | Anatoliy Banishevskiy Stadium | 8,000 |
$^1$Qarabağ played their home matches at Surakhani Stadium in Baku before moving to their current stadium on 3 May 2009.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Neftçi Baku (C) | 30 | 23 | 5 | 2 | 98 | 20 | +78 | 74 | Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round |
| 2 | Qarabağ | 30 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 61 | 25 | +36 | 71 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Khazri Buzovna | 30 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 59 | 23 | +36 | 66 | |
| 4 | Turan | 30 | 19 | 7 | 4 | 48 | 13 | +35 | 64 | |
| 5 | Kapaz | 30 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 59 | 26 | +33 | 58 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 6 | Khazar Sumgayit | 30 | 18 | 4 | 8 | 58 | 30 | +28 | 58 | |
| 7 | Fərid Baku | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 45 | 31 | +14 | 47 | |
| 8 | Pambygchi Barda | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 41 | 47 | −6 | 38 | |
| 9 | MOIK Baku | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 26 | 50 | −24 | 27 | |
| 10 | Şəmkir | 30 | 8 | 2 | 20 | 30 | 106 | −76 | 26 | |
| 11 | Bakı Fahlasi | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 37 | 41 | −4 | 37 | |
| 12 | FK Masallı | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 38 | 52 | −14 | 33 | |
| 13 | Kur-Nur | 30 | 7 | 4 | 19 | 30 | 59 | −29 | 25 | |
| 14 | Police Academy | 30 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 23 | 49 | −26 | 22 | |
| 15 | Pambiqci Neftcala (R) | 30 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 27 | 68 | −41 | 21 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |
| 16 | Azerbaijan U-18 | 30 | 4 | 1 | 25 | 38 | 78 | −40 | 13 | Relegation to Azerbaijan First Division |
* ↑ Kapaz qualified for the qualifying round of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the 1996–97 Azerbaijan Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | U18 | BFA | FAR | KAP | KHS | KHB | KNU | MAS | MOI | NEF | PNE | PBÄ | PAC | QAR | SHA | TUR |
| Azerbaijan U-18 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 1–4 | 2–3 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–7 | 5–3 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 5–1 | 0–3 |
| Bakı Fahlasi | 3–2 | | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 7–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Fərid Baku | 2–1 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 9–0 | 1–0 |
| Kapaz | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 14–2 | 1–0 |
| Khazar Sumgayit | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 4–2 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1–3 |
| Khazri Buzovna | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 8–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| Kur-Nur | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–5 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–1 |
| FK Masallı | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 2–4 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 6–1 | 0–0 |
| MOIK Baku | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 9–0 | 0–1 |
| Neftçi Baku | 7–1 | 6–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 7–1 | 9–0 | | 7–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 |
| Pambiqci Neftcala | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 0–2 |
| Pambygchi Bärdä | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 6–1 | 0–4 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 |
| Police Academy | 4–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| Qarabağ | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 6–1 | | 3–0 | 1–2 |
| Şəmkir | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 0–5 | 1–4 | | 0–0 |
| Turan | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 8–0 | |
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Walkover.

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Qurban Qurbanov | Neftchi | 34 |
| 2 | Samir Alakbarov | Neftchi | 25 |
| 3 | Rövşən Əhmədov | Kəpəz | 18 |
| 4 | Nazim Aliyev | Qarabağ | 17 |
| 5 | Mushfig Huseynov | Qarabağ | 15 |
| 6 | Həsən Abdullayev | Şəmkir / Pambygchi Neftchala | 14 |
| 7 | Pasha Aliyev | Khazri Buzovna | 13 |
| 8 | Musa Qurbanov | Kur-Nur / Neftchi | 12 |
| 8 | Azər İsayev | Khazri Buzovna | 12 |
| 8 | Ismayil Mammadov | Khazar Sumgayit | 12 |