The 77th minute of yesterday's "Qarabag" - "Shkendija" match was remembered for the debut of 18-year-old football player Hikmet Jabrailzadeh in the European Cups.

At the press conference held after the game, Gurban Gurbanov said that the young member of the academy was suggested by the club's academy coordinator Aftandil Hajiyev. The 44-year-old specialist told the Offsideplus.az website how this process happened:

"Almost every week, teacher Gurban invites several players from the academy to training. 3-5, sometimes this number rises to 8. They test young football players in two-sided games. Hikmet is one of the children selected in our academy, our own player. He is a talented football player, his technical and physical indicators stand out among his peers. We have several players like him who can join the main team's training sessions in the future and attract the attention of teacher Gurban. They are 15, 16 and 17-year-old football players, they need to grow up."

"Last season, we saw the invitation of academy players to the main team of "Qarabagh". Will we see other young Azerbaijani footballers being given a chance in the European Cups or the local championship next season?", A. Hajiyev answered the question as follows:

"Last season, there were players who made their debut in the main team, we can cite Amin Rzayev as an example. He is also a talented player, but he is still a bit young compared to Hikmet. He will turn 16 this year. We have such footballers, they will gradually join the main team's training sessions. A lot depends on them, they must show what they are capable of in order to attract attention. Last season, Nihat Mehraliyev in the reserve team and Davud Mansimov in the U-19 League were our footballers who were on the list of scorers. These two players signed contracts with the main team of "Shamakhi". The gratifying thing is that last season was fruitful for us. 4 footballers suddenly stepped into professional football. But these are still the first steps. Although relatively speaking, "They managed to introduce themselves to the football community. They need to work on themselves in the next period. They need to consolidate their position, which is a process that takes time. They are players who deserve to prove themselves if given the chance. After that, we can see other players in our local championship. This can happen not only in the main team of "Qarabag", but also in other main teams. Currently, there are players who are undergoing serious work, and the academy coaches are also working hard and enthusiastically on the players. I believe that talented players will come out of our academy in the future."