A presentation ceremony and press conference for Rui Jorge, a new head coach of Azerbaijan Under-20 national team, took place at Radisson Hotel. The event was attended by AFFA Executive Vice President Sarkhan Hajiyev, association officials and media representatives.
Sarkhan Hajiyev expressed his belief that the Portuguese specialist's experience will greatly help the Youth team: “In 2027, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan will co-host the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Certain organizational work has been carried out in connection with the major event. The appointment of head coach of the U-20 national team was made official last week. Rui Jorge will manage this team. Rui has a good player career, having played 45 games for the Portugal national team. He managed the Portugal U-21 national team for almost 15 years. We believe that his vast football experience will have a positive impact on our players and the team will perform successfully at the World Cup. Now the main goal is to form a team that will perform successfully in the group stage.”
Rui Jorge, in turn, said that he wants to succeed with Azerbaijan U-20 national team: “It is an honor for me to be with you. I hope that we will be able to have a very good experience in the coming period. To succeed, we need to work hard. Players need to do their best. If we can do this, we can succeed. When I had success with Portugal U-20 team, the team was ranked 19th. In the final draw of the tournament, we were third in the European zone. Our biggest goal here is to achieve such result.”
