AFFA responds appeal of 'Baku' club

Baku. 13 February. REPORT.AZ/ AFFA (Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan) Secretary General Elkhan Mammadov has responded the appeal of Club's Vice President Yashar Seyidov regarding the situation facing Training Base of 'Baku'.

Report was told by the official of the organization, the base is a personal property.

According to E.Mammadov, AFFA has no impact on this sports facility. However, the secretary general stressed that earlier certain talks were held with Y.Seyidov to prevent the base to be neglected: 'The area is a personal land and personal property. What we can do? Nothing. We have discussed the issue with Y.Seyidov in previous years. We have noted that it is possible to use the base. We wanted its use by AFFA or any club to prevent the base to remain neglected, as 'Baku' club has built an excellent base, made large investments, so, maintenance of the sports facility is very important. But it needs funds. And funds can be invested by such an organization, which will exclusively use it. Unfortunately, Vice President and Executive Director Seyidov, who carries out all works in the club has not accepted the offer. So, the issue remained in such a case.'

The secretary general said that both AFFA and clubs would like to use the base of 'Baku', because there are excellent fields: 'If Yashar Seyidov holds direct negotiations with clubs and reaches an agreement, there would be a positive result, thus, the base would be in use. No one will agree that it will pay money, the other will benefit. It is not right. 'Shafa' stadium was also under AFFA. And 'Inter' has rented it. We understood that 'Inter' uses the stadium anyway and possession of AFFA to the arena is not advisable, as it is in use by 'Inter', and the club is engaged in football activities. Therefore, we have raised the issue and sold 'Shafa' stadium as well as nearby base. Additional income entered to the budget of the AFFA. 'Inter' also took benefit. Because it uses the base and is an owner of it. This is a normal process. If they lease it for long-term and any club exclusively benefits from it, it would be useful.'

Saying that works in 'Baku' stadium has not been completed yet, E.Mammadov noted that due to this reason they were not able to hold U-17 Women's World Championship official matches in 2012 as well as mentioned its use as training camps. But by carrying out completion works, it would be possible to benefit for the European Championship matches of teens from same age category. Partially agreeing with it the secretary general drew attention to other problems: 'As AFFA, if we invest in the base, it means that we will not be able to allocate funds to other infrastructures. And, because we know existing problems in that area. We do not want to talk about all of them. Yashar Seyidov knows very well that other problems also exit there. During some period Seyidov was not allowed to that base, either. I do not know the reason. There were problems regarding water and electricity. Namely, it was difficult for us to solve communal problems, as we were engaged in the organizational works.

Notably, construction of 'Baku' Training Base has been completed in 2012. President Ilham Aliyev has attended the opening ceremony. In addition to the stadium with a capacity of 2500 spectators, artificial and natural turf fields for matches and coaching, the club's academy also acts in the base. Participants of U-17 Women's World Championship, held in Azerbaijan in 2012, trained in the fields of 'Baku' base during 5 weeks.