Emin Mahmudov

Emin Mahmudov (born 27 April 1992) is an Azerbaijani professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains both Azerbaijan Premier League club Neftchi Baku and the Azerbaijan national team. He was selected as the player of the year in Azerbaijan in 2021 and 2022.

Saturn Ramenskoye
Mahmudov was born in Saatly, Azerbaijan in 1992. As a child, he moved to Russia with his family and started playing football in the youth academy of Saturn Ramenskoye. During the 2010 season, he became the player of the senior team. Mahmudov made his debut in Russian Premier League on 24 April 2010, in a match against Dinamo Moscow, at the age of 17. He scored his first goal at the senior level against Anzhi on 20 November. Mahmudov played a total of 22 matches during his first season in the Premier League.

Spartak Moscow
After the dissolution of Saturn, Mahmudov signed a long-term contract with Spartak Moscow as a free agent on 15 January 2011. He played 90 minutes against Rostov in the first game of the 2011–12 season. Mahmudov appeared in a total of 12 matches during the season for Spartak, however despite a successful start, he was not able to become the player of the main squad. During the three seasons between 2012 and 2014, Mahmudov played on loan for Premier League teams Tomsk and Krylia Sovetov and also played for the reserve team of Spartak.

Krylia Sovetov
After a one-year loan, Krylia Sovetov purchased Mahmudov from Spartak on 31 January 2014, for €250,000. The same season Krylia got relegated from the Premier League. However, the 2014–15 season Krylia Sovetov became the champions of Russian Football National League and won the promotion to Premier League again. He missed most of that season due to a fractured leg injury that he received in September 2014.

Mahmudov made his comeback to the Russian Premier League on 9 August 2015, during the game against his previous team Spartak Moscow. On 31 August, it was announced that he would play on loan at Mordovia Saransk until the end of the 2015–16 season. Mahmudov made his debut for Mordovia on 20 September and soon became one of the regular members of the starting squad.

Boavista
On 21 July 2016, Mahmudov signed a two-year contract with Boavista. Mahmudov debuted for the Boavista in Primeira Liga match against Sporting Lisbon on 26 November 2016. On 23 December 2016, Mahmudov scored his first goal for the club, away against Nacional, in Primeira Liga.

Neftchi Baku
On 18 September 2017, Neftchi Baku signed with Mahmudov until the end of 2017–18 season. He made his Azerbaijan Premier League debut for Neftchi Baku against Gabala on 24 September 2017. He scored his first goal for Neftchi Baku in an Azerbaijan Premier League match against Gabala on 19 November 2017. On 17 June 2018, Mahmudov a new contract with Neftçi PFK until the end of the 2019/20 season. In summer of 2019, after the departure of Ruslan Abishov, he became the new captain of club.

After finishing the league with second place for two years in a row, Mahmudov greatly contributed to Neftchi's championship in the 2020–21 season of the Azerbaijan Premier League. Due to his performance at both Neftchi and the national team, he was selected as the player of the year in Azerbaijan during the vote at the end of 2021.

International career
As a dual citizen of Azerbaijan and Russia, Emin was eligible to play for both countries. Mahmudov played for Azerbaijani youth national teams until 2007, and played for all youth levels of Russian national team until 2014. Mahmudov twice became the champion of Commonwealth of Independent States Cup in 2012 and 2013 with the Russian under-21 team.

Mahmudov decided to play for the Azerbaijan national football team in 2016. He made his debut in a 1–0 win over San Marino in the 2018 World Cup qualification.

In 2021, Mahmudov set multiple new records for the national team by becoming the first player to score 7 international goals in a single year and 4 goals in a single qualification event, as part of the 2022 World Cup qualification tournament.

He is currently the second highest goal scorer in the history of the national team with 13 goals.

International

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

Honours
Neftchi Baku
 * Azerbaijan Premier League: 2020–21

Krylia Sovetov
 * Russian Football National League: 2014–15

Russia U21
 * Commonwealth of Independent States Cup: 2012, 2013

Individual
 * Azerbaijani Footballer of the Year: 2021, 2022