Eurasia Insight:
ILHAM ALIYEV FIGURES PROMINENTLY IN SOCCER DISPUTE IN AZERBAIJAN
Dan Brennan: 9/05/03

Azerbaijan’s national soccer team is preparing to host Finland on September 6 in the latest round of qualifying matches for next year’s European Cup tournament. The game will be played against a backdrop of a corruption controversy and a dispute involving the leaders of Azerbaijan’s soccer federation and the ruling party’s presidential candidate Ilham Aliyev.

The Azerbaijanis have not exactly set the world on fire with their soccer exploits, but in June they did cause a minor sensation with a last-minute 2-1 victory over Serbia and Montenegro. The result ranks as a major upset and is without a doubt Azerbaijan’s finest ever triumph. Joy over that victory, however, has been tempered by the ongoing confusion in the sport’s governing hierarchy.

In April, Azerbaijan was temporarily exiled by FIFA, world soccer’s governing body. This was just the latest of many blows suffered by the nation’s soccer fans. Over the last 18 months, the soccer federation, the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA), has been locked in a power struggle with the country’s Olympic Committee. The AFFA came under criticism for a variety of misdeeds, including allegedly pressuring referees to favor one of Azerbaijan’s top teams, FC Shafa.

In the ongoing dispute, AFFA has received tepid support from FIFA and its European counterpart, UEFA. Meanwhile, the Olympic Committee, with which Ilham Aliyev has been associated since 1997, appears to enjoy Azerbaijani government backing. The struggle brought Azerbaijan’s domestic soccer league to a standstill, and hindered Azerbaijani clubs from competing in international contests. In addition, some of the country’s best players left to play for foreign clubs, especially in Russia and Iran. Following extensive negotiations, AFFA managed to heal a rift among Azerbaijani soccer clubs and begin a new season in May. Still, uncertainty continues to surround Azerbaijani soccer.

Some observers believe a major source of trouble is a personality clash between Fuad Musayev, the AFFA’s leader, and Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s prime minister and likely presidential successor to his father Heidar. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Ilham has long taken a keen interest in Azerbaijan’s sports scene. In 1997, Heidar Aliyev appointed his son president of Azerbaijan’s Olympic Committee. Since then, Ilham has maneuvered political allies into place to lead most of the country’s national sports bodies. The most prominent exception is the AFFA post. Musayev is an erstwhile top official in Azerbaijan’s Communist Party, which was headed by Heidar Aliyev. Nevertheless, his ties to the Aliyev clan are tenuous.

The personality clash is widely believed to revolve around money, namely control of the significant amount of funds that AFFA receives from the international soccer establishment. FIFA and UEFA, for example, provide money to encourage youth soccer programs.

Musayev played an instrumental role in reorganizing Azerbaijani soccer and in keeping the sport alive amidst the chaos of the Soviet collapse in the early 1990s. More recently, he has been embroiled in corruption allegations related to his supposed use of UEFA funds for his personal benefit. No direct evidence has been uncovered that would substantiate the corruption charge. He has maintained that he has not engaged in wrongdoing.

Last February, Azerbaijan’s tax police sealed the AFFA offices, alleging that the organization owed half a million dollars in tax. The police also closed down the national stadium and raided the apartment of AFFA General Director Oktai Zeynalov. In March, an Azerbaijani court ordered the seizure of five cars belonging to AFFA, in lieu of unpaid debts to a Turkish construction company. One month later, Zeynalov was arrested on charges of tax fraud.

Amid the evident pressure on AFFA, Musayev has remained defiant. "I will never step down from my post just because the authorities want me to," he said. "I am the legally elected president of the association and I am not afraid of blackmail or threats, wherever they come from."

Prior to the June victory over Serbia, Ilham regularly attacked Musayev for the national team’s poor performance. He even called for Azerbaijan to withdraw from international soccer rather than face further humiliation on the field. Briefly, he got his wish when FIFA and UEFA imposed their temporary ban. Generally, though, soccer’s international bodies have shown themselves to be toothless tigers in this affair. The real losers have been the country’s soccer players and their fans. Some fans hope that when Ilham Aliyev assumes the presidency, as widely expected, the responsibilities of that office will leave him significantly less time to meddle in the country’s sporting life.

Editor’s Note: Dan Brennan is a freelance journalist specializing in CIS affairs.