Vogts gets new Azerbaijan mandate

Azerbaijan coach Berti Vogts has had his contract renewed for another two years and will lead the team in his fourth qualifying campaign in a row, having been appointed in March 2008.

Coach of his native Germany from 1990 to 1998, the 66-year-old has overseen a gradual improvement over the course of his time in Azerbaijan: his team collected five points in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification and picked up an additional two in his next two campaigns – seven in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying and nine in the 2014 World Cup preliminaries.

The Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan (AFFA) has charged Vogts with establishing closer contacts with Azerbaijani Premier League coaches. "We are not setting specific goals, but we want to see more promising young players brought into the team," said AFFA president Rovnag Abdullayev. "As we all know, Baku is looking to stage games at UEFA EURO 2020. Since we have a chance, we would like to perform decently in this competition."