Sport24.az
"Women's football competitions in Azerbaijan will be held in 4 leagues in the 2025/2026 season." Sport24./ reports that this was stated by Zumrud Agayeva, head of the Women's Football Department of AFFA, in her statement to "Report".
The official of the organization stated that a number of decisions were made regarding women's football in Azerbaijan starting from the new season: "Last season, there was a meeting with representatives of all teams participating in the 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 with a home-away system. The U-12 league will be massive 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 goal of the High Girls League will be for the players of the U-17, U-19 and the main national team to gather and play here. The U-16 League will play the role of a transition for candidates 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 mass of players. This will also increase the number of teams. In addition, the intensity will be high and competition will increase. Footballers born in 2010 will also play in the High League. The reason for this is related to the physical fitness of the footballers. Because when players of this age go abroad, they play against footballers older than themselves and against difficult opponents. 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 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 implement a rejuvenation process in order to increase the number of girls and to allow talented girls to play in the teams of older ages."
Last year, the number of girls in the High League was 122. 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 playing footballers under 16 years old in this league will affect both the increase in number and the quality. In this way, there will be no problems with the number of teams in the championships, and the number of technical defeats will be low. This experience has also been implemented in foreign countries. We have studied this in several countries. In Europe, it is recommended that members of the U-16 national teams play in leagues of older ages, as well as in neighboring countries. We consulted with the coaches, and the AFFA leadership also welcomed these decisions."
