Gamer beats soccer star to manager's job

The top football (soccer) club in Azerbaijan has named a 21-year-old video game player as its new manager (coach). They chose gamer Vugar Huseynzade instead of 1991 European Footballer of the Year Jean-Pierre Papin. The club is Baku FC, which is currently top of the Azerbaijan league. It gave the position of manager of its "A" team (the reserves) to locally-born Huseynzade instead of the hugely experienced Frenchman Papin. The club's decision has shocked the football world. All eyes will now be on Huseynzade to see how well he can manage the team. The young manager told reporters his ambition is to get his team into the Europa League, which is the second-biggest tournament in European football.

Mr Huseynzade has a short but interesting footballing background. He was born in Baku in 1991 and grew up supporting Baku FC. He went to high school in Sweden and learnt about a different kind of soccer. He then studied at Boston University in the USA, where he graduated in Business Management. For the past ten years he has been addicted to the video game Football Manager. Baku FC hired him in February 2012 as an advisor. The club really liked his knowledge of the game in leading his Football Manager teams to victory. Huseynzade said that managing football teams in simulation games gave him valuable on-the-job skills and training. He added that he couldn't wait to select his first team and win his first game.