In February 2004, Carlos Alberto Torres, captain of the Brazil team that won the 1970 FIFA World Cup was appointed as its national coach. Since then the manager has changed and Azerbaijan have failed to make an impact on the international scene and are one of Europe's weakest football nations.

In the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign they were in Group 6. From their ten matches they only managed three draws and the rest were defeats. The draws all came at home against Wales, Northern Ireland and Austria. They only scored one goal in all their games.