"As you know, I currently play for Zira U-19 team. My interest in football arose from watching matches and playing football in the yard. Since childhood, I have wanted to play football. I first started playing football at the Border Guard Sports Center near our house."
Idman.biz reports that this was stated by Abulhasan Mammadov, a football player of Zira U-19 team, in his statement to gol.az.
He managed to score 696 points in this year's entrance exam. The young player's choice was Baku Higher Oil School.
Mammadov spoke about the difficulties of progressing in both football and education. Our interlocutor emphasized that if a person sets a goal and moves forward, he can do anything he wants: "It is difficult to follow two paths at the same time. But I was also well prepared for classes from lower grades. Therefore, I no longer needed to study all day in the 10th and 11th grades. I studied at certain times, and I attended training at certain times. The difficulties were that I left home in the morning and returned home at night. I spent very little time at home. I went to different places: preparations, training, school. It was difficult to keep up with everything at the same time."
The young football player stated that his parents, teachers and friends supported him: "My parents supported me the most in this journey. Then my teachers and friends. Some of my teachers wanted me to choose education, and some wanted me to continue playing football."
Mammadov also answered questions about his future plans. He said that he has not yet decided which path to choose: "I don't know which path to choose right now. I'm still continuing. I will continue on the path where I am more successful."
Abulhasan also noted that stopping playing football for education is not the right choice: "My main advice to children who play football is to get an education. Don't stop playing football for education. It is possible to continue both. It's true, it's difficult. But a person can do it when he wants to."
The Zira football player finally touched upon the current situation of Azerbaijani football: "As we know, there are problems in Azerbaijani football. Especially in our national team. We hope that more qualified football players will be trained every year and raise the level of our national team."
Idman.biz