Gurbanov vs. Santos: Comparison in Azerbaijan national team’s coaching history

As 2024 draws to a close, the traditional discussions around the future of the Azerbaijan national football team's head coach arise once again.

As reported by Idman.biz, the fate of current coach Fernando Santos has become a hot topic ahead of the final Executive Committee meeting of the year by the AFFA.

Santos’ tenure is under scrutiny following the failure of the team in the UEFA Nations League. With only 1 point from 6 matches in League C, the national team’s performance has shaken the stability of the coach’s position.

Under Santos, Azerbaijan managed an average of just 0.17 points per match in official competitions, amounting to 5.56% of the possible points in the Nations League. However, Santos is not the only coach to have failed to achieve a victory in official matches. Others, such as Agaselim Mirjavadov, are also part of this list, holding the record for the worst performance with 0 points in all games.

Other coaches who also failed to secure a win include Vagif Sadygov, Nikola Yurcevic, and Carlos Alberto Torres, with the latter achieving 2 points in comparison to others’ 1. Meanwhile, Mahmud Gurbanov stands out with the best winless record, achieving a remarkable 50% success rate with 9 points from 6 games. Despite the team playing only in the Nations League D division, no one can guarantee that Azerbaijan would perform better in future tournaments.

The most successful foreign coach in Azerbaijan’s history remains Robert Prosinečki, achieving an impressive 16 points in 16 matches. He ranks second, just behind Gurbanov, with a record of 1 point per game.

The ongoing debate between local and foreign coaches has also drawn attention. Among the 16 coaches who have led the national team in qualifying and Nations League matches, 9 were local and 7 foreign. The local coaches have overseen 66 matches, securing 32 points, while foreign coaches have managed 100 games, collecting 65 points.

Rank	Head coach	P	W	D	L	G/D	Pts	Average
1	Gurban Gurbanov	6	2	3	1	7-6	9	1.50
2	Robert Prosinecki	16	4	4	8	15-26	16	1.00
3	Giovanni De Biasi	28	6	6	14	18-38	24	0.86
4	Kazbek Tuayev	5	1	1	3	1-10	4	0.80
5	Asgar Abdullayev	6	1	1	4	5-15	4	0.67
6	Berti Vogts	33	4	9	20	23-61	21	0.64
7	Ahmad Alasgarov	7	1	1	5	5-17	4	0.57
8	Igor Ponomarev	10	1	2	7	4-17	5	0.50
9	Shahin Diniyev	10	1	2	7	5-25	5	0.50
10	Carlos Alberto Torres	7	0	2	5	1-17	2	0.29
11	Fernando Santos	6	0	1	5	3-17	1	0.17
12	Nikola Jurcevic	8	0	1	7	5-18	1	0.13
13	Vagif Sadygov	13	0	1	12	3-32	1	0.08
14	Mahmud Gurbanov	1	0	0	1	0-1	0	0.00
15	Gjoko Hadzievski	2	0	0	2	1-3	0	0.00
16	Agaselim Mirjavadov	8	0	0	8	2-27	0	0.00