Idman.biz
"In Azerbaijan, in the 2025/2026 season, competitions in women's football will be held in 4 leagues."
Idman.biz reports that this was stated by Zumrud Aghayeva, head of the Women's Football Department of AFFA, in an interview with "Report".
The official of the institution said that a number of decisions have been made regarding women's football in Azerbaijan from the new season: "Last season, there was a meeting with representatives of the teams participating in all girls' leagues. This year, we have also invited new teams based on applications. In the 2025/2026 season, U-12, U-14, U-16 and the High Girls League will be held. We cannot provide any information about the format yet, as the registration process will continue until the end of August. We will determine the appropriate format after the number of teams is known. The U-16 League and the High Girls League will be held on a home-away system. The U-12 league will be massive. We will try to identify new talents and ensure mass participation. This will be a fundamental league for us. In the future, we will first invite girls from the U-12 league to the U-15 national team. The goal of the High Girls League will be that players of the U-17, U-19 and the main national team gather and play here. The U-16 League will play a transitional role for players nominated for the U-15 and U-17 national teams."
The head of the department also said that a rejuvenation process will be carried out in the leagues: "The purpose of the rejuvenation process in the league is to directly affect quality and create a large mass of players. Thus, the number of teams will also be large. Moreover, the intensity will be high and the competition will increase. Football players born in 2010 will also play in the High League. This is due to the physical preparation of the football players. Because when players of this age go abroad, they play against older football players and difficult opponents. The competition in the U-16 League in Azerbaijan is low and they are not ready to play against strong opponents in Europe. Neither the physical condition nor the technical training of our girls allows this. We also learned the opinions of the head coaches of the national teams in all age groups. We have decided to carry out a rejuvenation process in order to increase the number of girls and allow talented girls to play in the teams of older ages."
Last year, there were 122 girls in the High League. Our goal is to increase this number to over 200 and increase competition. U-16 is the last league in the lower age groups. Then comes the High Girls League. I think that the participation of football players under 16 years old in this league will affect both the increase in numbers and the quality. In this case, there will be no problems with the number of teams in the championships and the number of technical defeats will be less. This experience has also been implemented in foreign countries. We have studied this in several countries. In Europe, members of the U-16 national teams are advised to play in the leagues of older ages, as well as in neighboring countries. We consulted with the coaches, and the AFFA leadership also welcomed these decisions."
Idman.biz
