International Hockey Federation : Aiming High

Azerbaijan is one of the most improved nations in the world and its women’s team have high hopes of qualifying for the Samsung Hockey World Cup later this year.

Few people know where the country is located, let alone why hockey is such a popular sport. South African hockey journalist Karien Jonckheere found out a bit more about them when they took part in a four-nation tournament in Durban.

The last-minute correction to the scoreboard at the four-nation Spar Cup in South Africa said a lot about how little is known about the emerging teams in Eastern European hockey.

It's not Azerbainja (as the Durban crowd were led to believe) but Azerbaijan - the country whose president is one of the biggest hockey fanatics around.

And no matter how many times their name is spelled incorrectly, there's no denying that Azerbaijan is one of the up and coming teams in world hockey.

Azerbaijan has a population of around eight million and borders Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran. Independence from Russia was gained in 1991 and the capital city is Baku. What you won't pick up so easily, however, is just how passionate the Azeris are about their sport.

Thanks to some major government intervention, the Azerbaijan hockey team have taken great strides forward in the last few years.

In fact last year, the Azeri sports minister selected the Azerbaijan women's hockey team as team of the year and their coach as the coach of the year.

And what makes them different from so many of the emerging hockey nations is that all their players are professional.

'Yes, all the players in our team are professional. They are sponsored by Ata Holdings and they all live together in Baku and train twice a day. They have their own cook and their own bus to take them to and from practice and everything is provided for them,' explained Rashad Alizade, General Secretary of the Azerbaijan Hockey Federation.

'Five years ago hockey was not very high up the list in Azerbaijan,'

'The president, Ilham Aliyev, decided to develop all kinds of sport, especially hockey and we have a very modern hockey complex in the capital, Baku, which was finished last August,' he added.

It generally helps when the president and most of the government ministers are passionate about sport.

'The president of the country is also the president of our national Olympic Committee so he is very keen on supporting sport. That's why there is such an interest in sport and that is why we are doing so well. The government gives us very big support,' said Alizade.

'The president of the Azerbaijan Hockey Federation is also the tax minister of the country and the vice-president of the AHF is the deputy tax minister. That helps a lot of course.'

Azerbaijan boast a total of 20 hockey clubs and around 5000 players and while they were thrilled with the bronze medal they received at the Spar Cup in South Africa (after losing to host South Africa and Scotland, but defeating a struggling Irish team into fourth place) they have their sights set a lot higher.

'Our ambition is to go to the 2008 Olympics but before then we will go to Rome in April to try to qualify for the World Cup in Spain in September,' explained Alizade.

'Our ambition in Rome is to take a medal and to go to the World Cup. Our preparations have gone very well. At the beginning of the year we were not quite ready yet but we are planning to finalise the team in April and before that will go to Italy for friendly games at the end of March. We will also be hosting a four-nation tournament with Azerbaijan, India, Italy and the Ukraine.'

That will not be the first time that Baku's excellent facilities have been showcased to the world. The Azeris hosted the European Hockey Nations Trophy (where they beat Italy in the final) in 2005.

'At the moment we only have the one artificial turf in Baku but soon there will be many more. The hockey federation is doing a lot to develop hockey by laying new turfs in different regions,' said Alizade.

Hockey has grown in popularity since the government started showing and interest, and the sport was given an extra boost when one of their clubs, Atasport, finished second in the European Club Championships last year.

'Hockey is doing very well compared with all the other associations. During the European Trophy you couldn't find a seat to sit on in the stadium. It has become very popular in our country.'

With all this going for them, it shouldn't take long before the Azeris will be challenging for a lot more than a European Club Championship title.