Simurq PIK ( az, Simurq Peşəkar Idman Klubu) was an
Azerbaijani
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club based in
Zaqatala, that competed in the
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 ...
.
History
Early years (2005–2009)
The club was founded in 2005 and participated in the
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. ...
. The club's first season was very successful, and in the
2006–07 season, the club was participating in the
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 ...
.
[Zaqatala futbolu və “Simurq” PFK-nın tarixindən]
After its debuting season in the Premier League of Azerbaijan, Simurq finished 9th out of 14 clubs.
The Azerbaijani magazine ''Football+'' recognized Simurq as the "Surprise of the Year" of the
2006–07 season based on polling results.
In
2007–08 season club has made another step forward, and finished the season at 7th place. The club gained third place in
Azerbaijan Premier League 2008-09, by making the best indicator of the team in its history.
Recent years (2009–2015)
In 2009, club's debut in European competitions was not very successful as they were eliminated in the 1st qualifying round of
UEFA Europa League by
Bnei Yehuda. The
2009–10 season for club was not successful, even though the team had good start before the winter break. After the winter, club began to fall in the standings and won only 8th place, while coach
Roman Pokora dismissed after a string of poor results.
In June 2010, the club's executive director, former
Azerbaijan national football team manager
Gjoko Hadžievski
Gjoko Hadžievski or Ǵoko Hadžievski ( mk, Ѓоко Хаџиевски; born 31 March 1955) is a football coach from North Macedonia who was most recently the manager of Hatta Club, Hatta.
He coached teams from Bulgaria (PFC CSKA Sofia, CSKA ...
became the club's new coach. However, due to financial problems Simurq could not sign big local and foreign players and coach staff was forced to take less experienced players and use from youth system. The
2010–11
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 ...
season became the worst in club history as Simurq was relegated to the
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. ...
after finishing 11th place. However club is allowed participate in the next season to replace
Mughan who had sponsorship problems.
On 18 July 2011, the club signed a contract with
Sergey Yuran
Sergei Nikolayevich Yuran (russian: link=no, Сергей Николаевич Юран, uk, Сергій Миколайович Юран ''Serhij Mykolajovyč Juran''; born 11 June 1969) is a Russian professional football manager and a former ...
, former
Ukrainian football player and association football coach. On 5 March 2012, after Sergey Yuran's resignation,
Igor Getman
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling
* ...
became the first
Azerbaijani manager to lead Simurq as caretaker until the end of the season. But after six days, the club announced
Giorgi Chikhradze
Giorgi Chikhradze ( ka, გიორგი ჩიხრაძე; born 1 October 1967) is a Georgian football manager and former member of the Georgian national football team.
Chikhradze played club football for FC Dinamo Sukhumi in the Soviet Se ...
as their new coach. Simurq started
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 ...
season strongly, but after the start of the new year, team's form stumbled, hampering their European cup objective.
During the summer of 2015 the club folded due financial problems.
Domestic
:''As of 29 May 2015:''
[
][
]
European
Stadium
Zaqatala City Stadium is a
football stadium in
Zagatala,
Azerbaijan. It is currently used as club's home stadium and holds 3,500 people.
Crest and colours
Since the club's foundation, Simurq have had only one crest. It was officially adopted for the start of the 2006–07 season and based on a mythical sacred
Phoenix firebird with castle background. It stems from the club's name Simurq, which means Phoenix in
Azerbaijani language
Azerbaijani () or Azeri (), also referred to as Azeri Turkic or Azeri Turkish, is a Turkic language from the Oghuz sub-branch spoken primarily by the Azerbaijani people, who live mainly in the Republic of Azerbaijan where the North Azerbaija ...
. The new home and away kits were unveiled in June 2013 for the 2013–2014 season. The home kit is black and yellow stripes and the away kit is white, with
Joma being the kit manufacturer.
In 2013, the club unveiled an official crest, designed by Azerbaijani graphic designer Elnur Sharifli from
Poland.
Supporters
Simurq has a large fanbase in relation to its comparative lack of success on the pitch. Simurq supporters have played a vital role in the club's long term stay at Zaqatala.
Managers
References
External links
Official Website
Simurq Zaqatala
Association football clubs established in 2005
2005 establishments in Azerbaijan
Association football clubs disestablished in 2015
2015 disestablishments in Azerbaijan
{{Azerbaijan Premier League