Emin Mahmudov surpassed Gurban Gurbanov: The path to becoming the national team's top scorer

Emin Mahmudov, the top scorer of the Azerbaijan national football team, scored his first goal for the national team in 2018.

According to "Report's" research, the midfielder, who is now 33 years old, distinguished himself in the friendly match in which the team defeated Latvia in Riga (3:1) at that time.

Mahmudov scored most of his goals for the national team in 2021. At that time, he found the opponent's goal 4 times in the qualifying round of the world championship. The experienced player managed to distinguish himself in both matches they lost to Serbia in Baku and Belgrade (1:2, 1:3). The midfielder also made his mark on the scoreboard in the duel they lost to Luxembourg (1:2) and in the match they drew with Ireland (1:1) in Dublin.

In addition, Mahmudov also scored in test matches held in 2021. The current captain of the national team stood out in the match they lost to Turkey (1:2) in Alanya, and scored twice in the match they drew with Qatar (2:2) in Baku.

Emin Mahmudov was remembered with one goal in the national team in 2022. He made his mark on the scoreboard in the friendly match in which they defeated Moldova (2:1) in Chisinau.

In 2023, the football player scored 4 times against the opponents in the national team. The midfielder made his mark on the scoreboard in the European Championship qualifying match they lost to Austria (1:4) in Linz, and in the friendly match they beat Jordan (2:1) in Baku. E.Mahmudov was the author of a double in the qualifying match in which they defeated Sweden 3-0 at home.

The midfielder did not miss the last match won by the Azerbaijani team. In 2024, he also distinguished himself in the test match they beat Kazakhstan (3:2) in Sombathey, Hungary, scoring his 14th goal for the national team and reaching the former striker of the Azerbaijani national team, Gurban Gurbanov, in this indicator.

Finally, the captain made history by scoring from a penalty in the match of the 2026 World Cup qualifying round, which they drew with Ukraine (1:1) in Baku yesterday, and became the team's top scorer.

Top scorers of the Azerbaijan national team

1. Emin Mahmudov – 15 goals

2. Gurban Gurbanov – 14

3. Ramil Sheydaev – 10

4. Vagif Javadov – 9

5. Dmitri Nazarov - 8

6-8. Rauf Aliyev - 7

Branimir Subasic - 7

Elvin Mammadov - 7

9-10. Zaur Tagizade - 6

Mahir Emreli – 6