Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan
Continent	Eurasia
Population	9,165,000
Registered players	N/A
Referees	N/A
Rinks	N/A
National teams	None
National federation	Ice Hockey Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan
IIHF since	May 6, 1992
IIHF ranking	N/A
Top league	None

Azerbaijan is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Baku is the capital and largest city.

History of hockey in Azerbaijan

The Ice Hockey Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan was founded in 1991 as part of the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation. After the Soviet Union broke up in 1992, the federation became independent, and joined the IIHF on May 6, 1992.

There were claims going back to around 2010 that three teams named Atasport, Azneftheim and Svayzist existed in Azerbaijan; there were however no sources that seemed to back it. It appears that these were actually field hockey teams.

In 1961, Baku hosted a tournament where the different Soviet republics played against each other. Azerbaijan, however, did not have a team at the tournament. The national team has yet to make its international debut.

In 1991, the legendary Anatoly Tarasov, at the request of the Azerbaijani sports committee, asked Valery Laryukov, the founder and currnt President of the Ice Hockey Federation of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to go to Baku and open a hockey school, which about 200 local kids attended. After the country became independent, ice hockey was not developed by the Ministry of Sports, and died out. In 2019, Vyacheslav Fetisov visited Baku and talked about developing the sport in Azerbaijan with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Azad Rahimov, and Alexander Ovechkin also stated that he intended to help ice hockey get off the ground in the country. There are hopes of constructing a large rink that could eventually serve as home to a Kontinental Hockey League team, but as of 2021, no further developments have occurred.

There is an ice rink in Baku known as the Glavbakstroy Sports Palace. On June 2, 2023, an ice rink opened at the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Concert Complex. The Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan opened the facility to aid in the development of figure skating and ice hockey in the country. It was noted that there were plans to start an ice hockey program in Azerbaijan, and negotiations were underway to hire coaches. On February 13, 2024, 18 players attended the first open training session for an Azerbaijani national ice hockey team, led by Head Coach Aleksandr Bilinov and Zaur Mammadaliyev, the later saying "Our primary objective is to foster the growth of ice hockey in Azerbaijan. We firmly believe that it will gain popularity, attracting more participants and fans." The first ice hockey game in Azerbaijan was played in Baku on April 29, 2024, with the Baku Flames defeating Ice Brotherhood from Moscow, 10-6.

A team representing Azerbaijan, but composed almost entirely of Russians, save for two Azerbaijanis, has competed in the amateur Friendly Hockey League in Russia for many years.