UNSUCCESSFUL SEASON

The current season of European cups cannot be described as successful for Azerbaijani volleyball clubs. The Azeri clubs that had constantly vied for championship at international competitions did not look like themselves in the 2014/2015 season. One after another, the European stage was quit by Azerrail, then Lokomotiv and now Azeryol.

Azeryol quit fighting in the first round of play-off (last 32) of the Champions League. The Azerbaijani club led by its new chief coach Jeremy Estes won its return match against Italy's Yamamay but the win did not bring much joy. The 3:2 score turned out to be insufficient to qualify for the next round because of its lost home match (1:3). The Azerbaijani team was very close to its "golden set" but after winning quite easily the first set, the rival team managed to restore the status quo. That did not confuse our players who showed even more beautiful play and took the lead again. It was a must to win the next set to get the "golden set" but Yamamay recaptured the initiative and got the game under its belt. That meant the Italian club getting into the final and Azeryol dropping out of the Champions League. Thus, winning the last set in a tie-break, the Azeri team had nonetheless to fall out of the race.

So, Azerbaijan has lost its last representative in the Champions League. Previously, the Rabita club had bowed itself out of the most prestigious tournament of the continent after yielding to Russia's strongest club Khimki. In keeping with the rules, having fallen out of the competitions at an early stage, Rabita will now be represented in the Cup of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV). Now the champion of Azerbaijan will have to fight against Beziers, France, in the CEV Cup. The first match will take place on 3 March in France and the return match will be held at the Sarhadci Olympic Centre on 12 March. Despite serious financial support, Baku's Lokomotiv lost in the last eight of the CEV Cup to the Dynamo club from Krasnodar, Russia.

In accordance with tradition, our clubs reshuffled their chief coaches immediately after the lost matches. Azerbaijan's champion club Rabita parted with Serbian specialist Dejan Brdovic terminating, on mutual consent, their contract concluded at the beginning of the season. It is clear that the chief coach was ousted because of the team's unsuccessful performance in the European Cups. Playing in the Champions League in the previous years, Rabita had always made it to the next leg. In this season, however, they lost four out of six games and slipped down to the CEV Cup. Moreover, being the leader of the Super League of Azerbaijan after 12 rounds, it has already lost two games. In the past, Rabita would always finish the round with no more than one defeat.

Azerrail has also replaced its chief coach. Interestingly enough, the railway team sacked its chief coach Aleksandr Chervyakov back before the return game in the round of last 32. The match lost to the Yamamay club in Baku was assessed as a failure and the club management found it reasonable to put Jeremy Estes, the former chief coach's American aide, at the helm of the team. Before his arrival in Azerbaijan, this specialist had trained the Saint Louis club from the USA, Uralochka and Dynamo from Russia and Volero from Switzerland. Now he will be acting as chief coach. 

The main goal of the domestic volleyball clubs was to play successfully in the Champions League. This is why the failure that befell them in this tournament has caused so much regret. Now only Rabita continues to play in Europe and in the CEV Cup at that. There are several reasons behind the failures. In the first place, it is necessary to emphasize that it is the wrong decision to have no permanent team and frequently reshuffled coaches. Seeking to win gold in the Champions League and having replaced its chief coach twice during one season, Rabita has acquired an image on the continent as a team that is far from being professional. It should be kept in mind that every new coach would typically replace six or seven players on the team thereby forming the team anew. As a result, the team makes no headway. In general, the high turnover of coaches is one of the main problems for all clubs in this country.

Another problem is unjustifiably high remuneration paid to volleyball mercenaries. Opening their arms for mercenaries from every part of the world, the clubs unhesitatingly pay them a lot of money. Getting the wanted amount over the year, the latter leave the country. Azerbaijani volleyball clubs lacking professionalism in this matter should necessarily set a limit to expenditures on player transfers and spend a large proportion of their budgets on developing local volleyball players. The squads of the clubs that achieved success in European Cups in recent years comprised only foreigners. The clubs did nothing to develop volleyball at home. Two or three young local girls included on the volleyball teams in keeping with the rules would never leave the bench. So, the clubs have no way to show their worth without using expensive mercenaries. The teams run spontaneously by their managers have no volleyball development concept for this country. By seeking just to accomplish the season successfully, the teams harm the national team of Azerbaijan. It is this team that is primarily affected by the absence of efforts to develop local players.

Irrespective of how Rabita performs in the CEV Cup, the European Cups will be put on the record as an unsuccessful season for Azerbaijan's players. It is already necessary today to outline the training and transfer policies for the new European Cups season. Representatives of this country must try and achieve the assigned goal with the help of middle-level mercenaries. Along with them, it is necessary to keep the development of local volleyball players in the focus of attention. Otherwise, this failure may happen again.