From football coach to Azerbaijan’s National Hero

It is difficult to talk about Qarabag FK without mentioning their courageous and tragic history. The club were founded in Aghdam, a town of rich history in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and played in the Azerbaijan championship in the Soviet era. After the USSR ceased to exist, they won the title in 1993, but at the same time huge ethnic conflict erupted in the region. Armenian armed forces captured Aghdam, destroying most of it, including the Imarat stadium and committing war crimes. The local Azerbaijani population had to flee to other parts of the country, leaving Aghdam the largest ghost town in the world. It remains empty today. Allahverdi Bagirov was a footballer and a hero. Not the hype kind of heroism that is celebrated in modern media when a footballer scores a goal, makes a last ditch tackle or a goalkeeper dives bravely at a center-forward’s feet. Former

Qarabag FK coach was a real hero. During the “Golden Wheat Cup”, he was the captain of FK Qarabag against a team from Jabrail in 1970. In 1976, Bagirov became the club’s head coach. The former Azerbaijani football legend Mushfig Huseynov remembers: “He was my first football coach. Allahverdi Bagirov taught us to be kind and

honest. He was a great role model for many footballers.” When the Nagorno-Karabakh war broke out, Bagirov created his own battalion. He also saved 1003 refugees and war tank mine on June 12, 1992. He was posthumously named the National Hero of Azerbaijan. Upon learning about his death, an Armenian commander contacted the Azerbaijani soldiers on the radio, asked them to confirm the news, and demanded of them, “How could you not save such a man?” According to footballer Elshad Khudadatov: “When we heard about his death, we couldn’t hold our tears back. During one

prisoners during the Khojaly Massacre. War reporter Emin Eminbeyli recalled: “Extraordinary events took place as prisoners were exchanged. Allahverdi Bagirov embraced one of the Armenian prisoners and, looking straight to the camera, said that, this man, for many years, had been a team-mate of his. At the moment of the exchange, the Armenian soldier told Allahverdi he hoped never to be on opposite fronts with him again.” Bagirov’s life was taken by an antiof the games, we held a silent tribute to Allahverdi Bagirov and a Grad missile hit the stadium’s pitch…but none of the footballers moved. Each one stood motionless in his place”.

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