Gurban Gurbanov

Gurban Gurbanov

Gurbanov in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth	(1972-04-13) 13 April 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth	Ashaghy Tala, Zagatala District, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Qarabagh (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1988	Kur
1989	Mertskhali Ozurgeti
1990–1991	Dashgin Zagatala	54	(24)
1991–1992	Alazani Gurjaani	17	(4)
1992–1993	Dashgin Zagatala	39	(24)
1993–1995	Turan Tovuz	39	(12)
1995–1996	Kur Nur	12	(4)
1996	Turan Tovuz	15	(8)
1996–1998	Neftchi Baku	43	(43)
1998	Dynamo Stavropol	36	(17)
1999	Fakel Voronezh	12	(8)
1999	Baltika Kaliningrad	14	(3)
2000–2001	Fakel Voronezh	25	(7)
2001–2002	Neftchi Baku	14	(9)
2002	Fakel Voronezh	28	(7)
2003	Volgar-Gazprom	21	(5)
2003–2005	Neftchi Baku	27	(14)
2005–2006	Inter Baku	3	(1)
Total		399+	(178+)
International career
1992–2005	Azerbaijan	68	(14)
Managerial career
2006–2007	Neftchi Baku
2008–	Qarabağ
2017–2018	Azerbaijan
Signature
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gurban Osman oghlu Gurbanov (Azerbaijani: Qurban Osman oğlu Qurbanov; born 13 April 1972) is an Azerbaijani football manager and former player who manages Qarabag. He played as a forward. Starting out with local club Kur in 1988, Gurbanov had a decorated 18-year career. He scored 178 goals in 399 league matches. With 14 goals in 68 matches, he is also the Azerbaijan national team's all-time leading goalscorer in international matches. From 2017 to 2018 he was the manager of the Azerbaijan national team.

Gurbanov has won a total of 14 trophies, five as a player and nine as a manager.

He started his career in Kur, and has since played for Mertskhali Ozurgeti, Daşqın Zaqatala, Alazani Gurjaani, Turan Tovuz, Neftchi Baku, Dinamo Stavropol, Baltika Kaliningrad, Fakel Voronezh and Volgar Gazprom. The last club he played for was Inter Baku. In the 1996–97 season, Gurbanov was the leading scorer in the Azerbaijan Premier League for Neftchi with 25 goals.^[1] The striker was named Azerbaijan's Player of the Year once, in 2003.^[2]

Gurbanov debuted for the Azerbaijan national team in their very first match on 17 September 1992, and as of January 2006 he has scored 14 goals in 68 international matches, which is the national team goal scoring record.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

After Gurbanov ended his football player's career, he became sport director of the club Inter. In summer 2006 he was appointed head coach of Neftchi Baku.

At the beginning of the season 2008–09 he became head coach of Qarabağ FK to replace Rasim Kara.

In 2010, he became the most successful Azerbaijani manager in European competitions with 16 wins.^[8]

In May 2014, he guided Qarabağ to their second Azerbaijani league title after 21 years.^[9] In July 2014, he became the second Azerbaijani manager to reach the European Cups group stage, as Qarabağ qualified for the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage, beating Twente and being the second Azerbaijani team to advance to this stage in a European competitions.^[10]

In 2017, Qarabağ FK, managed by Gurbanov, became the first Azerbaijani team to reach the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.

On 3 November 2017, Gurbanov was appointed manager of the Azerbaijan national team.^[11] A year later, on 8 December 2018, he resigned.^[12]

Gurban is the brother of Azerbaijani former footballer Musa Gurbanov.^[13] He is the father of Azerbaijan national team player Musa Gurbanli.

In 2012, he campaigned to stop domestic violence.^[14]

Scores and results list Azerbaijan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gurbanov goal.

List of international goals scored by Gurban Gurbanov

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	8 June 1993	Azadi Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Kazakhstan U21	1–0	3–3	1993 ECO Cup	[15]
2				2–1
3	27 February 1996	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Faroe Islands	3–0	3–0	Friendly	[16]
4	27 May 1996	City Stadium, Maladzyechna, Belarus	Belarus	1–1	2–2	Friendly	[17]
5	22 March 1997	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Turkmenistan	3–0	3–0	Friendly	[18]
6	14 October 1998	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	1–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying	[19]
7	6 March 1999	Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Larnaca, Cyprus	Estonia	1–0	2–2	Friendly	[20]
8	5 June 1999	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Liechtenstein	1–0	4–0	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying	[21]
9	12 February 2003	Podgorica City Stadium, Podgorica, Serbia and Montenegro	Serbia and Montenegro	1–2	2–2	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying	[22]
10				2–2
11	11 June 2003	Shafa Stadion, Baku, Azerbaijan	Serbia and Montenegro	1–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying	[23]
12	31 March 2004	Stadionul Republican, Chișinău, Moldova	Moldova	1–1	2–1	Friendly	[24]
13	28 May 2004	Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium, Baku, Azerbaijan	Uzbekistan	1–0	3–1	Friendly	[25]
14	6 June 2004	Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia	Latvia	2–1	2–2	Friendly	[26]

Coaching record

As of match played 10 November 2024

Turan Tovuz

• Azerbaijan Premier League: 1993–94

Neftchi Baku

• Azerbaijan Premier League: 1996–97, 2003–04, 2004–05
• Azerbaijan Cup: 2003–04

Individual

• Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year: 2003
• Azerbaijan Premier League top scorer: 1996–97
• Azerbaijan all-time top scorer: 14 goals

Qarabağ

• Azerbaijan Premier League: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021–22, 2022–23
• Azerbaijan Cup: 2008–09, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2021–22

• Career of Gurban Gurbanov (video on YouTube)
• Gurban Gurbanov at National-Football-Teams.com