Soccer has always been a game of many surprises: may it be its high mounting prize money, or its in-ground chit chats that become more than critical some times. Close followers of professional football know how difficult it is to become a manager of a professional soccer club, especially in the time when Clubs like Chelsea and QPR have fired their managers over deprived results. An interesting event happened last month, when Vugar Huseynzade, a 21 year old, was appointed as the manager of Azerbaijan Premier League club FC Baku. Apart from his age, his only quality, as far as the game of soccer is concerned, is his mastery with a virtual soccer simulator game Football Manager. Yes, he used to play a video game like virtual simulator and grasp the knowledge of the game, perhaps, his knowledge found to be so perfect that FC Baku’s think-tank decided to crown him as their manger. He even defeated his close rival for the job Jean-Pierre Papin, who was 1991 European Player of the Year.
Football Manager has ever been a most popular football strategic simulator, and Huseynzade asserts to be a close follower of it ever since he started knowing about the game. Interestingly, the virtual simulator was launched by Sports Interactive in 1992, and Huseynzade joined the globe on 22 May 1991. Yes, Huseynzade was born in Azerbaijan in 1991 and completed his secondary school education in Stockholm, Sweden, and later, did his graduation in Business Management from Boston University, US in 2010-2012. So, he is a close follower ever since this game was launched by its creators. What he said after his novice appointment is, “I’ve always wanted to work in football and have played Football Manager since 2002.”
Everybody stunned to see a teenager taking a responsibility of a real soccer club, moreover, when he said in an interview, given to a Swedish newspaper, that he has never managed any real game but has more than ten years of experience in playing Football Manager. Actually, he did not get this post all in a sudden, coz he has been working with FC Baku in an advisory position since February. He also said in the interview that he is keen to serve a European premier league side, but he will have to prove his abilities here first. Anyways, be ready to be further surprised!