| Clubname: | Shamakhi FK |
| Fullname: | Şamaxı Futbol Klubu |
| Upright: | 0.8 |
| Nickname: | Şirlər (The Lions) |
| Founded: | , as Khazar University |
| Ground: | Shamakhi City Stadium |
| Capacity: | 2,200 |
| Chairman: | Elchin Usub |
| Chrtitle: | Chairman of the Board |
| Manager: | Aykhan Abbasov |
| League: | Azerbaijan First League |
| Season: | 2023–24 |
| Position: | 1st (promoted) |
| Current: | 2021–22 Keşla FK season |
| Website: | http://www.shamakhifc.az/ |
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Shamakhi FK (Azerbaijani: Şamaxı Futbol Klubu, in Azerbaijani pronounced as /ʃɑmɑˈxɯ/) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Shamakhi, that currently competes in the Azerbaijan First League. The club has won the Premier League title twice.[1]
The club has been functioning since 1997, initially as an amateur side that shared its name with Khazar University, the first private university in Azerbaijan, which founded the club. In 1999, Khazar University began to play in the Azerbaijan Premier League, finishing eleventh.[2] In subsequent years, Inter finished in 7th place (2000/01 season) and 3rd place (2003–04 season).
In the 2003–04 season, the team finished in fourth place, thereby qualifying for the UEFA Intertoto Cup for the first time. In the first round of the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup, they defeated Bregenz of Austria 3:0 on a forfeiture in the first leg, and 2:1 in the second leg.[3] In the second round, they played Tampere United of Finland, losing the first leg 0:3; winning the return leg, played in Baku, 1:0; but going out on aggregate 1:3.[4]
In the summer of 2004, all rights of the Khazar University club were transferred to the newly created Inter Baku Professional Football Club, and the team participated in the 13th championship of the Azerbaijani Premier League under the name of Inter Baku. Later in 2004, certain structural changes were made in the club's management, and Inter Baku was renamed the Inter Professional Club, finishing the 2004–2005 season in seventh place. Inter's progression up the standings continued in the 14th iteration of the Azerbaijan Premier League when Inter finished in fourth place.
The club finished fourth again in 2006–07, and first in 2007–08. Following its championship season, Inter qualified for its first-ever appearance in the UEFA Champions League in 2008 and advanced to the second qualifying round by defeating Rabotnički of the Republic of Macedonia on away goals.[5]
2009 saw Inter Baku retain the Azerbaijan Premier League title, securing it for the second time in the club's history. The club's Champions League campaign was less successful – barely losing to Lech Poznań away on penalties.[6] In 2011, Inter Baku also managed to win the CIS Cup after defeating Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the final.[7] [8]
In 2012, the club recorded an Azerbaijani record for the biggest win in a European competition by beating Narva Trans 5–0 in Estonia.[9] The club had started the 2013–14 season with a three-game losing streak, setting a record for worst start to a season in its history.[10] However, the team managed to clinch second spot in the league.[11]
During the 2015–16 season, Inter started experiencing financial difficulties at the same time with its main sponsor, The International Bank of Azerbaijan. In December 2015, the club's president, Georgi Nikolov was replaced by Rashad Gasimov. On 31 March 2016, Inter Baku were banned from participating in the next UEFA club competition that they would qualify for in the next three seasons, covering the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons.[12]
The situation continued during the 2016–17 season as Inter struggled to pay salaries to its players and make new transfers. Despite that, Inter was able to claim the bronze medal in the national championship and reach the semi-finals stage in the Cup. At the end of the season, IBA announced that it would no longer sponsor the club, and this led to new changes in the administration. Zaur Akhundov, former director of the National Futzal Federation, was appointed as the head of the supervisory board and Ramish Maliyev became the new executive director of the club. Despite the rumors about the liquidation, Inter was able to find sponsorship for the 2017–18 season and play in the Europe League, where it eliminated Serbian Mladost Lučani in the first qualifying round before getting eliminated by Fola Esch in the second round.
On 28 October 2017, Inter Baku PIK officially changed its name to Keshla FK.[13] The club also replaced its logo and jersey colors. In its first match, Keshla lost 0–2 against Kapaz. The next day, the team's manager Zaur Svanadze was replaced by Ramiz Mammadov.[14] On 25 December 2017, Keshla announced that Ramiz Mammadov had become the club's Sporting Director, with Yuriy Maksymov coming in as the club's new manager.[15] On 17 July 2018, Maksymov was sacked as manager,[16] with Mladen Milinković being appointed as the new manager on 25 July 2018.[17] On 29 October 2018, Milinković was sacked as manager,[18] with Tarlan Ahmadov being appointed as his replacement on 30 October 2018.[19] On 8 August 2020, Ahmadov left Keşla.[20]
On 16 August 2020, Keşla announced Yunis Huseynov being appointed as the new manager.[21] On 24 January 2021, Huseynov resigned as manager,[22] with Sanan Gurbanov being appointed as the club's new manager on 25 January 2021.[23]
On 6 April 2022, the Azerbaijan Premier League approved the name change of Keşla FK to Shamakhi FK.[24]
| Season | League | Azerbaijan Cup | Top goalscorer | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div. | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Name | League | ||||
| 1999-00 | 1st | 11th | 22 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 19 | 41 | 18 | 1/8 Finals |  Samir Alakbarov | 7 | ||
| 2000–01 | 1st | 7th | 20 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 38 | 29 | 1/8 Finals | R. Nasibov | 8 | ||
| 2003–04 | 1st | 4th | 26 | 15 | 6 | 5 | 43 | 16 | 51 | 1/8 Finals |  A. Sokhadze | 6 | ||
| 2004–05 | 1st | 7th | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 44 | 24 | 66 | align=center bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | Elshan Mammadov | 10 | |
| 2005–06 | 1st | 4th | 26 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 35 | 14 | 50 | Quarter-finals | Lucky Idahor | 6 | ||
| 2006–07 | 1st | 4th | 24 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 12 | 45 | Semi-finals | Samir Aliyev | 6 | ||
| 2007–08 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=gold | 1st | 26 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 55 | 18 | 58 | align=center bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | Khagani Mammadov | 19 |
| 2008–09 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 26 | 18 | 7 | 1 | 54 | 16 | 61 | align=center bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | Walter Guglielmone | 17 |
| 2009–10 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=gold | 1st | 32 | 22 | 12 | 8 | 58 | 37 | 78 | Semi-finals |  Robertas Poškus | 12 | |
| 2010–11 | 1st | 5th | 32 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 29 | 24 | 49 | align=center bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | Robertas Poškus | 5 | |
| 2011–12 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=bronze | 3rd | 32 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 29 | 21 | 56 | Semi-finals | Bachana Tskhadadze | 7 | |
| 2012–13 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=bronze | 3rd | 32 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 38 | 22 | 57 | Quarter-finals | Bachana Tskhadadze | 8 | |
| 2013–14 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 36 | 20 | 7 | 9 | 60 | 37 | 67 | Quarter-finals | Vagif Javadov | 16 | |
| 2014–15 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 32 | 17 | 12 | 3 | 55 | 20 | 63 | Semi-finals |  Mikel Álvaro | 9 | |
| 2015–16 | 1st | 4th | 36 | 16 | 11 | 9 | 39 | 28 | 59 | Semi-finals | Nizami Hajiyev Mirsahib Abbasov | 6 | ||
| 2016–17 | 1st | align=center bgcolor=bronze | 3rd | 28 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 39 | 33 | 43 | Semi-finals | Rauf Aliyev | 11 | |
| 2017–18 | 1st | 6th | 28 | 8 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 39 | 31 | align=center bgcolor=gold | Winner | Pardis Fardjad-Azad  Adrian Scarlatache Slavik Alkhasov | 4 | |
| 2018–19 | 1st | 8th | 28 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 29 | 45 | 23 | Quarter-finals | Amil Yunanov Jonathan Ayité | 5 | ||
| 2019–20 | 1st | 3rd | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 27 | 21 | 30 | Quarter-finals | Lorenzo Frutos | 6 | ||
| 2020–21 | 1st | 6th | 28 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 25 | 40 | 26 | align=center bgcolor=gold | Winner | Azer Salahli | 5 | |
| 2021–22 | 1st | 7th | 28 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 25 | 49 | 22 | Quarter-finals |  Felipe Santos | 6 | ||
| 2022–23 | 1st | 10th | 36 | 4 | 13 | 19 | 26 | 52 | 25 | Semi-finals | Amil Yunanov | 7 | ||
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| UEFA Europa League | 27 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 37 | 29 |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| Total | 39 | 16 | 11 | 12 | 48 | 45 |
| Games of Shamakhi in UEFA competitions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate | |
| 2004 | Intertoto Cup | R1 |  Bregenz | 2–1 | 3–0 | 5–1 | |
| R2 |  Tampere United | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–3 | |||
| 2008–09 | Champions League | 1Q | Rabotnički | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1(a) | |
| 2Q |  Partizan | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 | |||
| 2009–10 | Europa League | 2Q |  Spartak Trnava | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–5 | |
| 2010–11 | Champions League | 2Q |  Lech Poznań | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 (8–9 p) | |
| 2012–13 | Europa League | 1Q |  Narva Trans | 5–0 | 2–0 | 7–0 | |
| 2Q |  Asteras Tripoli | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 (2–4 p) | |||
| 2013–14 | Europa League | 1Q | IFK Mariehamn | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | |
| 2Q |  Tromsø | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | |||
| 2014–15 | Europa League | 1Q |  Tiraspol | 3–1 | 3–2 | 6–3 | |
| 2Q |  IF Elfsborg | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 (3–4 p) | |||
| 2015–16 | Europa League | 1Q |  Laçi | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 (a) | |
| 2Q |  FH | 2–2 | 2–1 | 4–3 | |||
| 3Q | Athletic Bilbao | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | |||
| 2017–18 | Europa League | 1Q | Mladost Lučani | 2–0 | 3–0 | 5–0 | |
| 2Q |  Fola Esch | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–4 | |||
| 2018–19 | Europa League | 1Q |  Balzan | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–5 | |
| 2020–21 | Europa League | 1Q | Laçi | 0–0 (4–5 p) | |||
| 2021–22 | Europa Conference League | 2Q |  Sochi | 2–4 | 0–3 | 2–7 |
Shamakhi's home ground is Shamakhi City Stadium, which has a capacity of 2,200.[25]
| Years | Manufacturer | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|
| 2004–2011 | Adidas | IBA |
| 2011–2015 | Umbro | |
| 2015–2017 | Joma | |
| 2017–2022 | Samaya LTD | |
| 2022–2023 | none | |
| 2023– | Kirpi Tekstil |
Azerbaijani teams are limited to nine players without Azerbaijani citizenship. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player; several non-European players on the squad have dual citizenship with an EU country.
For recent transfers, see List of Azerbaijan football transfers summer 2024.
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Chairman of the Board | Elchin Usub |
| General Manager | Kamran Ismayılov |
| Press secretary | Yusif Huseynov |
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach | Aykhan Abbasov | |
| Assistant coach | Elnur Chodarov Khayal Garayev Vusal Garayev Jeyhun Rzayev | |
| Goalkeeping coach | Kamil Gafarov |
| width=20px | width=300px | Name | width=250px | Years | width=100px | League | width=100px | Azerbaijan Cup | width=100px | Europe | width=100px | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bachana Tskhadadze | 2011–2015 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Nizami Hajiyev | 2007–2008 2010–2013 2014–2017 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Walter Guglielmone | 2007–2009 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Khagani Mammadov | 2007–2009 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Robertas Poškus | 2009–2011 | |||||||||||
| 5 | César Meza | 2013–2015, 2016 2018, 2019–2021 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Vagif Javadov | 2013–2014 2018–2020 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Rauf Aliyev | 2016–2017 | |||||||||||
| 9 | Ģirts Karlsons | 2009–2015 | |||||||||||
| 10 | Petar Zlatinov | 2008–2013 |
| + Top Ten Players With Most Appearances | |||||
| Player | Period | Caps | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Volodimir Levin | 2004–13 | 204 | 11 | |
| 2 | Asif Mammadov | 2008–10; 2011–2015 | 118 | 7 | |
| 3 | Bachana Tskhadadze | 2010–2015 | 117 | 47 | |
| 4 | Giorgi Lomaia | 2009–2016 | 108 | 0 | |
| 5 | Arif Dashdemirov | 2010–2015 | 98 | 5 | |
| 6 | Petar Zlatinov | 2008–13 | 97 | 10 | |
| 7 | Ilia Kandelaki | 2010–13 | 75 | 3 | |
| 8 | Elmar Bakhshiev | 2004–07 | 74 | 1 | |
| 9 | Ģirts Karlsons | 2009–12 | 73 | 36 | |
| 10 |  Bronislav Červenka | 2007–12 | 72 | 5 | |
Information correct as of match played 23 February 2019. Only competitive matches are counted.
| Name | Nat. | From | To | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | %W | Honours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ismail Aliyev | 1997 | 1998 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| Samir Alakbarov | 1999 | 2000 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| Boyukagha Aghayev | 2001 | 2004 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | [26] | ||
| Anatoly Konjkov | 2004 | 2006 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | [27] | ||
| Oleg Smolyaninov | 2006 | 2006 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| Valentyn Khodukin | 2006 | Jun 2009 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Azerbaijan Premier League | [28] | |
| Kakhaber Tskhadadze | Jul 2009 | Jun 2015 | Azerbaijan Premier League CIS Cup | [29] | ||||||||
| Zaur Svanadze | Jun 2015 | 29 October 2017 | ||||||||||
| Ramiz Mammadov | 29 October 2017 | 25 December 2017 | ||||||||||
| Yuriy Maksymov | 25 December 2017 | 17 July 2018 | Azerbaijan Cup | |||||||||
| Mladen Milinković | 25 July 2018 | 29 October 2018 | ||||||||||
| Tarlan Ahmadov | 30 October 2018 | 8 August 2020 | ||||||||||
| Yunis Huseynov | 16 August 2020 | 24 January 2021 | ||||||||||
| Sanan Gurbanov | 24 January 2021 | |||||||||||
P – Total of played matchesW – Won matchesD – Drawn matchesL – Lost matchesGS – Goal scoredGA – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won
Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).