Emil Nazim ogly Balayev ( az, Emil Nazim oğlu Balayev; russian: Эмиль Назим оглы Балаев; born 17 April 1994) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Neftçi. Born in Russia, he plays for the Azerbaijan national team. He was selected as the footballer of the year in Azerbaijan in 2019.

Club career

As a youth player Balayev was a member of Neftçi youth system, before he was promoted to the first team in 2011. Balayev made his debut for Neftchi in an

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

match against

Sumgayit Sumgait (; az, Sumqayıt, ) is a city in Azerbaijan, located near the Caspian Sea, on the Absheron Peninsula, about away from the capital Baku. The city has a population of around 345,300, making it the second largest city in Azerbaijan after Bak ...

in September 2012. In 2013 Balayev was sent on a season loan to Araz-Naxçıvan. Balayev moved from Neftçi to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in January 2014. However, he failed to make an appearance for the club and was released in June 2016. In January 2019, Balayev moved from Sabail to Kazakhstani club

Tobol The Tobol (russian: Тобол, kk, Тобыл ''Tobyl'') is a river in Western Siberia (in Kazakhstan and Russia) and the main (left) tributary of the Irtysh. Its length is , and the area of its drainage basin is . History The Tobol River was ...

. He made his professional debut for Tobol in the Kazakhstan Premier League on 9 March 2019, starting in the home match against

Irtysh Pavlodar FC Irtysh Pavlodar ( kk, Ертіс Футбол Клубы, ''Ertis Fýtbol Klýby'') was a Kazakh professional football club based at the Central Stadium in Pavlodar. Irtysh won the Kazakhstan Premier league in 1993 (as ''Ansat''), 1997, 19 ...

, which finished as a 3–0 win. On 31 January 2020, Balayev left Tobol by mutual consent. On 3 March 2020, Zira announced the signing of Balayev on a contract until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 10 July 2020, Balayev signed a contract with

Qarabağ FK Qarabağ Futbol Klubu, commonly known as Qarabağ () is an Azerbaijani professional football club, based in Baku, that competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League, the top flight of Azerbaijani football. The club originates from Aghdam but has ...

. On 3 March 2022, Balayev left Qarabağ. On 4 March 2022, Kazakhstan Premier League club

Turan Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...

announced the signing of Balayev. Balayev left Turan in June 2022. On 28 June 2023, Neftçi announced the return of Balayev on a two-year contract.

International career

Balayev was called up to the Azerbaijan national team for the first time in September 2013 for a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

match against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. He made his International debut in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Croatia on 9 September 2019. Balayev was included in the

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

of hosts Azerbaijan's under-23 team at the

2017 Islamic Solidarity Games The 4th Islamic Solidarity Games was a multinational, multi-sport event that was held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 12 to 22 May 2017. Previously the event has been held in Saudi Arabia in 2005 and Indonesia in 2013. The second event, originally sch ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

, in which Azerbaijan went on to win the gold medal. Balayev made his

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

debut in 2019 against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europe ...

Career statistics

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 19 November 2019''

Honours

Club

; Neftchi Baku *

: (1)

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid. ...

: (1)

; Araz-Naxçıvan *

Azerbaijan First Division The Azerbaijan First Division ( az, Azərbaycan Birinci Divizionu) is the second highest professional division in Azerbaijani professional football (soccer), football. The division is run by Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan, AFFA. ...

: (1) 2013–14

International

; Azerbaijan U23 * Islamic Solidarity Games: (1)

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual

Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year is an annual title awarded to the best Azerbaijani football player of the year. The award has been given since 1991, and the winner is elected by authorized journalists from the leading Azerbaijani sport media. ...

(1): 2019

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balayev, Emil 1994 births Living people Footballers from Volgograd Azerbaijani men's footballers Azerbaijan men's international footballers Russian men's footballers Russian sportspeople of Azerbaijani descent Men's association football goalkeepers Azerbaijani expatriate men's footballers Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Azerbaijani expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Neftçi PFK players Sumgayit FK players Araz-Naxçıvan PFK players Eintracht Frankfurt players Qarabağ FK players Sabail FK players FC Tobol players Azerbaijan Premier League players Kazakhstan Premier League players