The federation
A national federation that opens the water to everyone.
The Azerbaijan Swimming Federation (ASF) governs five aquatic disciplines in the country — swimming, diving, artistic swimming, water polo and open water swimming. The federation is responsible for preparing the national teams, organising competitions, training coaches and officials, and running mass participation programmes.
In 2025 a new management team took office: a strategy was drafted, the structure renewed, and coaches with international experience — along with a doctor, a nutritionist, masseurs and psychologists — joined the national team.
Today ASF works as part of the World Aquatics and European Aquatics family, together with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Olympic Committee and the Azerbaijan Sports Academy.
The main event of 2026 is the Baku leg of the Silk Road Swimming World Cup on 1–3 October — the first World Aquatics competition ever staged in Azerbaijan.
Key numbers
ASF at a glance
Disciplines
Five different languages of water
Every discipline under the federation has its own rules, its own distances and its own national team.
Swimming
In pools of international size (50 metres, 8 lanes) — freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke over distances from 50 to 1500 metres.
Diving
From springboard and platform — 1, 3, 5, 7.5 and 10 metres — with aesthetic rotations in the air and a vertical entry into the water. An Olympic discipline.
Artistic swimming
Routines performed to music above and below the surface: synchronisation, technique and artistry are scored by the judges.
Water polo
A ball game between two teams in the pool: six field players and a goalkeeper, four periods of eight minutes each. An Olympic discipline.
Open water swimming
Long distances in natural water — 5, 10 and 25 km, and marathons too. In Azerbaijan the Caspian Sea and the Kura river serve as the open-air stadium for this discipline.
1–3 October 2026Main event
The Silk Road World Cup comes to Baku
The 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup is staged as a three-city “Silk Road Tour”: Baku, Tashkent and Astana. The Baku leg opens the tour and is the first World Aquatics event in Azerbaijan's history.
The competition takes place at the Aquatic Palace. The total prize pool is USD 1.2 million, with an extra USD 10,000 bonus for every world record.
International staffNational team
A new coaching staff and a young squad
Since the autumn of 2025 the head coach of the national swimming team has been Luka Gabrilo of Switzerland, a specialist with more than 15 years of experience in Switzerland, Israel, the USA and Australia. The federation's sport director is Pierre Lafontaine of Canada.
The core of the squad is young: Suleyman Ismayilzada, Ramil Valizada and new members called up on their international ranking points.
Swimming for allProgrammes
From the classroom to open water
“Let's Learn to Swim”, “Towards the Future”, “Stronger Than the Wave”, “Let's Cross the Kura?!”, the Ganja Cup and the water polo festival — the federation's programmes start with children entering a pool and run all the way to international tournaments.
The goal is simple: a society where people can swim, hold themselves well and feel safe in the water.
“With just one month to go, we are immensely proud and excited to host the World Cup in Baku.”
Zaur Aliyev, ASF PresidentSections
What is on the site
News feed
Latest developments
A selection from the federation's official news (asf.az).
Questions and answers