Rashad Sadygov (; born 16 June 1982) is an Azerbaijani football manager and former player who manages Zira FK. He played as a centre-back. Sadigov is the most capped player in the history of Azerbaijan national team with 111 games and captained the team since 2004 and he is widely recognized as one of the strongest players in the history of independent Azerbaijan, as he won the national league title six times and was selected as the footballer of the year six times. He played in UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League for FK Qarabağ. Early life Sadigov began playing football during his school years at Vagif Pashayev-led Youth Football Sports School at the age of 10. He also spent time playing football for the clubs Sharur, the Air Force team, and Real Baku, all of which are based in Baku. Club career In 2000, Sadigov signed his first professional contract with PFK Turan Tovuz, but played only nine games. At that time, he also played for the Azerbaijan Under-21 football team. At the end of the 2000/01 season, the defender was transferred to PFC Neftchi. He played for Foolad F.C. in Iran's Premier Football League in 2002. After his comeback to Neftchi, Rashad won the national championship and cup and succeeded in passing the first qualification round of the Champions League with the black-and-whites. He played 8 games in European cups for Neftchi (two in the UEFA Cup qualifying during the 2001–02 season, two in the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds in the 2004–05, and four appearances during the 2005–06 season of the same competition). He traveled to Turkey to play for Kayserispor for the 2005–06 season. He was loaned back to Neftchi in January 2006. He played once at the start of 2006/07 season, but planned to go back with Neftchi, again. Sadigov failed to notice that the Association of Football Federations of Azerbaijan had changed the deadline of the transfer window, so he changed to play basketball to keep his fitness. On 23 January 2009, Sadygov returned to the Turkish Süper Lig to join Kocaelispor on a six-month contract after he was kicked out from PFC Neftchi by the head coach Hans-Jürgen Gede in December 2008. Rashad made his debut for Kocaelispor in their 4–0 victory over Hacettepe on 25 January 2009. In July 2009, Sadigov briefly returned to FK Qarabağ to help them in UEFA