Neftchi Baku used to be one of the leading teams in the former top league in the Soviet Union, sometimes playing in European club competitions.

Their most famous player arguably was Anatoly Banishevski, who was also a member of the Soviet team, that reached the semi-finals in the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Among these teams were the "Circle of Football Players of Surakhany", "Stela", "Friends of Sport", "Sportsman", "Congress", "Unitas", "Belaya", "Senturion", "Progress", etc.

Initially, the city championships were held by an agreement between the captains in the absence of cup competitions, in a spontaneous manner.

In 1912, Azerbaijani football players had their first "international match"[2] and they won in Tbilisi, Georgia against the local "Sokol" team with 4:2.

[1] The oldest records of football teams in Soviet Azerbaijan goes back to 1926-1927, when Trans-Caucasian Championship was organized in Tbilisi.

The 1960s is considered the Golden Age for Azerbaijani football as it produced great players like Anatoliy Banishevskiy, Alakbar Mammadov and the football referee Tofik Bakhramov, most famous for being the linesman who helped to award a goal for England in the 1966 World Cup Final between England and West Germany.