THE FLAGSHIP STRENGTHENS ITS POSITIONS

The 9-month football marathon full of interesting games, beautiful goals, joy of victory and bitterness of defeat ended with another champion's title for the oldest club of Azerbaijan - Neftci.

Taking first place at the end of the season for the third time in a row, the "black and white" team pleased their fans with the eighth champion's title since the country's independence. The team secured gold medals for the tour until the end of the championship, tying with Qabala.

This season, Agdam's Karabakh and Baku's Inter also deserved gold medals, but due to their unstable performance, they confined themselves to silver and bronze medals respectively.

Becoming champions this year, the "oilmen" set a record - previously, no other club had won the national football championship three times in a row.

Kapaz, which left the Premier League this year, and Samkir, which played in the first division, can boast of two wins in a row in the championships. In general, Neftchi has won the championship of Azerbaijan15 times, and in this nomination it is well ahead of FC Kapaz (6 times).

But it was not easy for the "black and white" team to win the current title. In connection with the games of the Europa League group stage, some of Neftci's matches in the Premier League had been postponed. Certain difficulties arose for the club later in connection with the tight schedule of games. But they did not become an obstacle to the flagship. Although the "black and white" team did not end the first half of the season as the leader, in the second part of the championship and games of the first "six", Neftci was unstoppable. The "oilmen" took advantage of the loss of points by their main rivals - Inter and Karabakh, took first place and kept the lead until the end.

Although Inter, which was fighting for the gold medal, surrendered at an earlier stage, Karabakh fought for the title until the end. Three wins over Neftci during the season increased the chances and hopes of the Agdam team. And had Karabakh won in the 29th round, they would have eliminated the point advantage with the flagship and settled on the first line of the championship. But Neftci turned out stronger in this game and thus virtually decided the fate of the championship. Having a six-point advantage over the closest pursuer three rounds before the end of the championship, Neftci was able to keep the lead until the end.

In the achievement of Neftci, one of the key roles was played by the Chilean striker Nicolas Canales. And the forward of the "black and white" team showed his class in matches not only with relatively weak clubs, but also in games against major rivals. Having scored 26 goals during the season, he became the goal-scorer of the championship. By the way, with this achievement Canales broke the record of the goal-scorers among legionaries of the Azerbaijani championship: in the season 1997/98, the Georgian footballer Badri Kvaratskhelia scored 20 goals, and this record had still not been broken. According to experts, Canales, who joined Neftci last summer, can still be of great help to the club - both in championship games and in continental competitions.

Of course, in the victory of Neftci the decisive role belongs to the coach Boyukaga Haciyev. He knew how to motivate and encourage the team before games. At a press conference, the head coach said of the Brazilian team player: "Flavinho is an Azerbaijani for me. He helps us with his goals. He is not Flavinho, for me he is Firaddin." Despite his health problems, the head coach prepared the team at a high level. The most difficult games for Haciyev were matches with Karabakh, which became a rival of principle for the "oilmen" after the departure of Xazar-Lankaran from the first "six". The Agdam team led by Qurban Qurbanov beat Neftci three times during the season. But the "black and white" team did not leave it unanswered - in decisive games they defeated Karabakh twice, depriving them of the chance of winning the champion's title and knocking them out of the fight for the National Cup.

Even more difficult and important European cup matches lie ahead. And the fans expect Neftci at least to repeat last year's success - to make it into the group stage of the Europa League.