1996–97 Azerbaijan Top League

Azerbaijan Top League

Season	1996-97
Champions	Neftchi Baku
Relegated	Pambiqci Neftcala Azerbaijan U-18
Champions League	Neftchi Baku
UEFA Cup	Qarabağ
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Kapaz
Matches played	450
Goals scored	718 (1.6 per match)
Top goalscorer	Gurban Gurbanov (34)
← 1995–96 1997-98 →

The 1996-97 Azerbaijan Top League was contested by 16 teams and won by Neftchi Baku. Champions are Garabag Agdam thanks to "youth points" from the U-15 and U-16 Championships.

Teams

Stadia and locations

Azerbaijan U-18
Fahlasi
Fərid
Police
Khazri Buzovna
Khazar Sumgayit
MOIK
Neftchi

Kapaz

Kur Nur

Pambygchi Barda

Pambiqci Neftcala

Qarabağ

Shamkir

Turan Tovuz

Viləş Masallı

Location of teams in Azerbaijan Premier League 1996–97

Team	Venue	Capacity
Azerbaijan U-18
Bakı Fahlasi	Ismat Gayibov Stadium	5,000
Fərid Baku
Kapaz	Ganja City Stadium	26,120
Khazri Buzovna
Khazar Sumgayit
Kur Nur	Yashar Mammadzade Stadium	5,000
MOIK Baku	Shafa Stadium (IV field)	8,152
Neftchi Baku	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium	29,858
Pambygchi Barda	Barda City Stadium	10,000
Pambiqci Neftcala	Nariman Narimanov Stadium	2,000
Police Academy	Tofik Bakhramov Stadium	29,858
Qarabağ	Guzanli Olympic Stadium1	15,000
Shamkir
Turan Tovuz	Tovuz City Stadium	10,000
Viləş Masallı	Anatoliy Banishevskiy Stadium	8,000

¹Qarabağ played their home matches at Surakhani Stadium in Baku before moving to their current stadium on 3 May 2009.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Neftchi Baku (C)	30	23	5	2	98	20	+78	74	1997–98 UEFA Champions League First qualifying round
2	Qarabağ	30	23	2	5	61	25	+36	71	1997–98 UEFA Cup First qualifying round
3	Khazri Buzovna	30	20	6	4	59	23	+36	66
4	Turan	30	19	7	4	48	13	+35	64
5	Kəpəz	30	18	4	8	59	26	+33	58	1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Qualifying round 1
6	Khazar Sumgayit	30	18	4	8	58	30	+28	58
7	Fərid Baku	30	13	8	9	45	31	+14	47
8	Pambygchi Barda	30	11	5	14	41	47	−6	38
9	MOIK Baku	30	7	6	17	26	50	−24	27
10	Şəmkir	30	8	2	20	30	106	−76	26
11	Bakı Fahlasi	30	10	7	13	37	41	−4	37
12	FK Masallı	30	9	6	15	38	52	−14	33
13	Kur-Nur	30	7	4	19	30	59	−29	25
14	Police Academy	30	5	7	18	23	49	−26	22
15	Pambiqci Neftcala	30	5	6	19	27	68	−41	21	1997-98 Azerbaijan First Division
16	Azerbaijan U-18	30	4	1	25	38	78	−40	13

Source: Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
¹Kapaz qualified for the qualifying round of the 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as winners of the 1996–97 Azerbaijan Cup.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Qurban Qurbanov	Neftchi	34
2	Samir Alakbarov	Neftchi	25
3	Rövşən Əhmədov	Kəpəz	18
4	Nazim Aliyev	Qarabağ	17
5	Mushfig Huseynov	Qarabağ	15
6	Həsən Abdullayev	Şəmkir / Pambygchi Neftchala	14
7	Pasha Aliyev	Khazri Buzovna	13
8	Musa Qurbanov	Kur-Nur / Neftchi	12
	Azər İsayev	Khazri Buzovna	12
	Ismayil Mammadov	Khazar Sumgayit	12

External links

• Azerbaijan 1996-97 RSSSF
• APL Stats