MADE BY:Ni]K

Sport in Azerbaijan has ancient roots, and even now, both traditional and modern sports are still practiced. Freestyle wrestling has been traditionally regarded as Azerbaijan's national sport, however today, the most popular sports in Azerbaijan are football and chess..

BACKGAMMON IS A GAME THAT HAS ANCIENT ROOTS IN THE PERSIAN EMPIRE AND PLAYS MAJOR ROLE IN AZERBAIJANI CULTURE. THIS GAME IS VERY POPULAR IN AZERBAIJAN AND WIDELY PLAYED AMONG THE LOCAL PUBLIC. THERE ARE ALSO DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF BACKGAMMON DEVELOPED AND ANALYSED BY AZERBAIJANI EXPERTS.

Azerbaijan is known as one of the chess superpowers and despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, chess is still extremely popular. Notable chess players of Azerbaijan includes Teimour Radjabov,Shahriyar Mammadyarov, Max Mosnta, Drew Irion, Vugar Gashimov and Zeinab Mamedyarova. Azerbaijan has also hosted many international chess tournaments and competitions and becameEuropean Team Chess Championship winners in 2009.

PFC Neftchi was founded in 1937.During the years of 1937–1967, it was known as Neftyanik and it was renamed Neftchi in 1968 ] Neftchi played three spells in the Soviet Top League, in 1949–1950, 1960–1970, and 1977– 1988, for a total of 23 years in the top division of Soviet football. [ The club appeared in the Soviet First League, the second-highest division, from 1946–1948, 1951–1959, 1973–1976, and 1989– 1991, with its top finish in 1976 as the runner-up. The club's greatest achievement was a 3rd place finish in the Soviet Top League in 1966, the highest finish for any Azerbaijani side in the Soviet era. The 1966 squad was made up of many of the all-time great Azerbaijani footballers, including forwards Anatoliy Banishevskiy (the UEFA Golden Player for Azerbaijan) and Kazbek Tuaev, midfielder Aleksandr Trophimov, and goalkeeper Sergey Kramarenko.

In recent years, rhythmic gymnastics developed rapidly in Azerbaijan. Many Azerbaijani rhythmic gymnasts such as Aliya Garayeva, AnnaGurbanova and Dinar a Gimatova are among the leading rhythmic gymnasts in the world. Rhythmic gymnastics

Martial arts like judo have also brought many medals to this country, namely Elnur Mammadli who conquered gold at the European Championships and 2008 Summer Olympics in the -73 kg category, and Movlud Miraliyev who won the bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics and World Judo Championships in judo