SOCAR head elected AFFA president

Head of state oil company SOCAR Rovshan Najaf has been elected president of the AFFA (Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan) at the organisation’s report-election conference held today.

Note that Najaf succeeded former SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev.

Members of the AFFA’s executive committee were also elected, which included: AFFA vice-president Elshad Nasirov (SOCAR vice-president), the Association’s general secretary Sarkhan Hajiyev, FC Karabakh head coach Gurban Gurbanov, football veteran Samed Gurbanov, Olympic champion in Greco-Roman wrestling Farid Mansurov, OTB general director Balakishi Gasymov and others.

It has to be kept in mind that SOCAR is the main donor to the AFFA and Azerbaijani football in general, but so far without much success.

The achievements of FC “Karabakh”, which is not financed by SOCAR, are a pleasant exception and they are mostly due to the merits of the team’s head coach Gurban Gurbanov.