Report.az
Women's football competitions in Azerbaijan in the 2025/2026 season will be held in 4 leagues.
This was stated by Zumrud Agayeva, Head of the Women's Football Department of AFFA, in an interview with "Report".
The official of the organization stated that a number of decisions related to women's football in Azerbaijan have been made starting from the new season:
"Last season, there was a meeting with representatives of teams participating in all girls' leagues. This year, we have also invited new teams based on applications. In the 2025/2026 season, the U-12, U-14, U-16, and Higher 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 Higher Girls' League will be held on a home-away system. The U-12 league will be mass in nature. 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 purpose of the Higher Girls' League will be for players of the U-17, U-19, and main national teams to 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 the quality and create a large player base. Thus, the number of teams will also be large. Moreover, the intensity will be high and competition will increase. Football players born in 2010 will also play in the Higher League. This is due to the physical fitness of the players. Because when players of this age go abroad, they play against older and more difficult opponents. Competition is low in the U-16 League in Azerbaijan, and they are not ready to play against strong opponents in Europe. Neither the physical condition nor the technical preparation 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 players to play in teams older than themselves.
Last year, there were 122 girls in the Higher 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 Higher Girls' League. I think that playing footballers up to the age of 16 in this league will affect both the increase in numbers and the quality. Also, 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 researched this in several countries. In Europe, it is recommended that members of the U-16 national teams play in the leagues of older and neighboring countries. We consulted with the coaches, and the AFFA leadership also welcomed these decisions."
