During the halftime break of the Azerbaijani Cup round of 16 match between FC Qarabag (Aghdam) and MOIK (Baku) at the Khankendi Stadium, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with the awardees of sports community in a ceremony related to the sports results of 2023.

Addressing the meeting, President Ilham Aliyev said:

- Welcome to Khankendi!

We are holding the traditional meeting with athletes in Khankendi this year. This has a lot of meaning. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the successes you have achieved. You have raised the sporting fame of our state with your hard work, and the state of Azerbaijan is right in rewarding you, because you fully deserve it.

Today, the awards lined up here, the keys to your apartments and other types of awards are presented to you at the halftime break of a historic football match in the liberated city of Khankendi. I would like to sincerely congratulate you on this occasion.

There have been many competitions, but today's competition will go down in history forever – for our people, for our state and for the rest of the world. There has not been any other example in the history of the world when a nation, a state liberated and rebuilt its lands, the lands that were occupied for many years and were liberated at the cost of the blood and lives of the fallen martyrs on the battlefield, held a football match in the already liberated lands just three years later, bringing together people from Baku and other places who came here to watch and feel proud of it. We have written history, we are still writing it. As I mentioned earlier today, Khankendi was liberated only three months ago, but the Azerbaijani city of Khankendi lives on and revives.

I want to sincerely congratulate you again. By inviting you here, I wanted to show you my attitude and respect for you. We could have held this meeting in Baku too, as we actually do every year. But I thought it would only be fair to hold it here and present these great awards to you here. Congratulations again!

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They posed together for a family photo.

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On December 20, President Ilham Aliyev issued a decree to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of sports in Azerbaijan. Under the order, one person received the “Honorary Diploma of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, while 17 individuals were bestowed with the “Taraggi” medal. Furthermore, three individuals were granted the honorary title of “Honored physical education and sportsman” in recognition of their exceptional services and exemplary professionalism in fostering the growth of sports in Azerbaijan. Additionally, four people were awarded individual scholarships of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in acknowledgment of their sustained and impactful contributions to the development of sports in the country. 29 individuals of the sports community received apartments.