Idman.biz
The Azerbaijan national team has completed the qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup in Group D with extremely poor results. The team played six matches, did not win any, drew once, and lost five times. The team scored three goals, conceded 16, and finished the qualifying round with just one point.
According to Idman.Biz, looking at historical indicators, it becomes clear that although this is one of the most unsuccessful qualifying campaigns of the Azerbaijani national team, it is not the first such case.
This is the fourth time the team has finished the qualifying round with one point. Previously, a similar result was recorded in the qualifying round of Euro 1996 (10 matches, one draw, nine losses, goal difference 2–29), Euro 2020 (eight matches, one draw, seven losses, 5-18) and WC 2022 (eight matches, one draw, seven losses, 5-18).
It should be noted that the Azerbaijani national team has never finished a qualifying round with zero points - each time, with at least one draw, the team recorded a minimal result to its credit.
Statistics on goals also show the scale of the decline. Although the three goals scored in the 2026 World Cup qualifying round are not an absolute anti-record, they are among the worst indicators in the history of the national team.
The absolute minimum was recorded in the 2006 World Cup qualifying round - only one goal was scored in ten matches, and 21 goals were conceded. The second worst result belongs to the Euro 1996 qualifying round - two goals and 29 goals conceded.
Our national team has finished the qualifying round with three goals twice more: at the 1998 World Cup (8 matches, goal difference 3–22) and at the current 2026 World Cup qualifying round (6 matches, 3–16). In other campaigns, the team scored at least four to five goals.
It should be noted that the author of the national team's point record in qualifying rounds is the 2018 World Cup campaign. At that time, the team scored 10 points: 10 matches, three wins, one draw, six losses, goal difference 10-19. Azerbaijan has not scored more than seven points in any European Championship qualifying round. For this reason, the 10-point record is not only specific to the 2018 World Cup, but is considered the overall record for all World Cup and Euro qualifying rounds.
The national team's best goal difference indicator was -4. This result was recorded in the 2014 World Cup qualifying round: 10 matches, one win, six draws, three losses, goal difference 7-11.
Teymur Tushiyev
