Azerbaijan building football reputation on sand

BAKU — It’s safe to say Azerbaijan isn’t on the radar of most football fans. The oil-rich former Soviet outpost knows, which is why it’s trying to spend its way to prominence.

Despite never coming close to qualifying for a World Cup or European Championship, Azerbaijan will be a co-host of Euro 2020.

The big draw for UEFA is the new 68,000-seat Olympic Stadium in the capital Baku, which opened this month at a time when tight budgets have made many European countries wary of funding grandiose new national stadiums.

In preparation for Euro 2020, Azerbaijan is keen to develop football by any means possible, pouring oil funds into its previously crumbling domestic league, hiring charismatic former Croatia winger Robert Prosinecki as national coach and hosting beach football at this month’s inaugural European Games in Baku.

The home team is hoping to build Azerbaijan’s football reputation not on grass, but on sand.

“In Azerbaijan, some people say football is in poor condition and so on. Of course, no, not at all,” Emin Kurdov, goalkeeper and captain of the Azeri beach football team, says through a translator.

“Football is developing. It’s a gradual development, as with beach football’s development, and we will try to prove it with our performance.”

The thought of helping the country become well known in time for Euro 2020 will drive Azerbaijan’s beach boys onwards, Kurdov says.

“It’s a happy fact that Azerbaijan is going to host such honourable matches,” he says. “At the same time, it’s a stimulus for all of us.”

However, two big obstacles stand in Azerbaijan’s way to football prominence.

Firstly, with 13 co-hosts for Euro 2020, none will qualify automatically, so it is far from guaranteed that the host nation will play at its Olympic Stadium in 2020. In qualifying for next year’s European Championship, Azerbaijan is already six points off the play-off places with only one win, against Malta.

The second obstacle is publicity. Beach football is a marginal event, and the world’s spotlight on the European Games has been dim. The Women’s World Cup in Canada has overshadowed the games in several major markets.

However, Baku’s beach football is being keenly watched by top officials in beach football, which suffered a setback when its attempts to make the program for next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro were rebuffed. The European Games is beach football’s debut at a major multi-sport event, at a 1,500-seat temporary venue under the baking Azerbaijani sun, which is expected to drive temperatures as high as 38OC.

Since bringing beach football under FIFA’s auspices a decade ago, “joining the Baku Europeans is the best news that we have been able to bring to the sport”, says Joan Cusco, FIFA official and vice president of promoter Beach Football Worldwide.

He says it could be a springboard for another attempt at Olympic recognition, possibly for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

In the meantime, beach football in Azerbaijan is a big deal.

“The inclusion of beach football into the European Games is another success that we are all proud of, and here we have to mention the efforts of the national team, which is a part of this competition,” captain Kurdov says. “I would say we made a record in history.”