İlgar Kurbanov

İlgar Kurbanov — Biography

İlgar Kurbanov, born on April 25, 1986, in Baku, is a former professional footballer holding dual Azerbaijani and Turkish citizenship. He took up football at age seven under coach Cengiz Azimov and was soon signed by Baku's Neftçi club, where he spent five seasons under coach İslam Kerimov. With his father's support he then joined Fenerbahçe's youth setup, impressing the coaching staff in friendly matches and rising through Fenerbahçe PAF. During this period he played for Turkey's U15, U16 and U17 national teams, before switching his international allegiance to Azerbaijan; he caught the eye of Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Torres and was promoted to the senior national team at a young age, scoring his first goal against Uzbekistan and facing opponents such as Austria, Ireland, Wales and England in World Cup qualifiers.

In his club career he played for teams including Khazar Lankaran, Sivasspor, Boluspor, Mersin İdmanyurdu, Qarabağ, Gabala and Sumgayit. He won an Azerbaijan Premier League title with Khazar Lankaran in 2006-07, four consecutive league titles and two cups with Qarabağ between 2013 and 2017, and a cup with Gabala in 2018-19. Since retiring from the pitch he has kept a lower public profile, and today is remembered as one of the notable names in Turkish-Azerbaijani football history.