Crisis hits Azeri clubs

All is not well in Azerbaijan. Two Yuksek Deste sides, FC Araz and FC Umid, are on the brink of collapse - "practically derelict", according to officials at the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA). Meanwhile, another club, FC Turan, have barely escaped the threat of bankruptcy after securing financial support just two weeks before the league restarts on 23 February.

'They have collapsed'
"We know about the problems at Araz and Umid," said Melik Hasanov, a competitions department director at AFFA. "We are aware that these two teams, in fact, have collapsed."

No official word
Hasanov added that the association had not yet received any official word from the teams on their likely withdrawal from the Azeri top flight but said: "If Araz and Umid do not continue in the league, it will not affect the championship." He added that the teams would be automatically awarded defeats in their upcoming games and the league would subsequently shrink to ten clubs.

Abandoned by sponsor
Aside from Araz and Umid, Turan are also in financial trouble after their sponsor abandoned the team. On Thursday, the club secured support from the Tovuz district authorities and got together for their first practice session with just over two weeks to go before the league restarts.

Decision to withdraw
Araz are in a tight corner. Their squad has been stripped bare. Head coach Beyukaga Hajiev was fired in early January and no replacement has been found. At the club meeting this week, the board decided to withdraw from the championship, although no action has been taken yet.

Out of top six
The club fell apart after they failed to make it into the top six of the first stage of the league. The Yuksek Deste is played in two stages, with the top six teams playing against each other for the title after the league resumes in late February.

'No use playing for seventh'
"There is no use playing for seventh place, nobody cares about it," said Sujedkhan Novruzov, a sports and tourism minister in the Azeri republic of Nakhichevan, and the man who controls Araz. Novruzov cited the two-staged league system as a factor in the club's decline.

Last hope
Umid are in a similar situation, with the main sponsors not able to secure finances and players leaving to join other clubs. Vugar Huseynov and Mahir Aliyev signed for FC Khazar Universitesi, Vitaliy Uzlovatiy and Tofig Babayev joined FC Shafa and three more players have opted to switch to futsal. Another pair, Ulfat Madatov and Elchin Gasanov, have announced that they will retire. As of Friday, Umid have only eight players on their books.

Casualty list
If Umid and Araz withdraw from the championship, they will become the 16th and the 17th clubs to collapse in the league's eleven-year history - and Azeri football's latest casualties since FC Vilash went to the wall in summer 2001.