Alexander Gnezdov

Alexander Efimovich Gnezdov (; 17 September 1908 – 1981) was an Azerbaijani professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He was known as the first manager of Neftçi PFK.

Career Gnezdov started his career at Progress Baku in 1926. Progress Baku was the first professional football club of Azerbaijan and founded in 1907. Then he joined Stalinets Leningrad (nowadays Zenit Saint Petersburg) in 1934, where he made ten appearances for the club, scoring six goals in total.

In 1937, Gnezdov was appointed the first coach at Neftyanik (nowadays Neftçi PFK), while he also played as a forward for the same club During his coaching period, the club was mainly consisted of players with Russian descent due to less interest to football among the local people. Despite his managerial status, Gnezdov was also considered a decisive player, especially in important and game-changing situations.

Gnezdov was the first person in Azerbaijan SSR who did punditry work. In 1949, he made history, filing Azerbaijan's first football report on radio.