Yashar Babayev was born on April 21, 1941 in Ganja, in a railway family. After graduating from the 7th grade, Yashar entered a vocational school and graduated with a degree in "Electrician". Although his father, who worked at the boiler house, did not take football as a serious profession, Yashar spent most of his time playing his favorite sport. He attracts the attention of the "Weaver" club with his beautiful game in the "Lokomotiv" team of his vocational school. The left-back, who joined the Ganja team in 1960 at the invitation of head coach Valentin Khlistov, became one of the leading members of this team. Later, the Ganja club called "Dinamo" made a sensation in 1962 by defeating Kiev "Dynamo" with a score of 2: 1 in the 1/8 finals of the USSR Cup, where such stars as Yojef Sabo, Andrei Biba, Valery Lobanovsky. After the match, which was watched by 30,000 spectators in Ganja on July 10, Kyiv head coach Vyacheslav Solovyov invited Yashar Babayev to his team, but he said "no" to the offer. However, on March 15, 1962, he immediately accepted the offer from Neftyanik. In the first minute of the first official match, which appeared in the form of "black and white" in 1963, the player of "Kayrat" opened the score, taking advantage of Yashar's mistake. However, our team wins 2: 1. Despite a mistake in the first match, the left-back, who soon became a member of the main squad, appeared in 19 games that season. There was no question of Yashar's passes with excellent speed and beautiful technique. His friends called him a "professor" because of his ability to see the game.

He was one of the main shareholders in the team's third place in the 1966 USSR championship. Number "4", who appeared in 20 games, is one of the 12 players who were awarded bronze medals. After that, Babayev, who wore the "black and white" uniform for 5 more seasons, played a total of 219 games in 9 seasons in "Neftchi".

After finishing his football career, Yashar Babayev started working at Neftchi in 1972. Babayev, who was the director of the base until 1982, worked first as a coach and then as a director at a specialized football school in the General Education Department that year. Since 1998, he has been a teacher at the Football Department of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Physical Culture and Sports.

Yashar Babayev lost the bronze medal he won in 1966, but, as he said, the main thing is not the medal, but to live in the memory of the people. The legend of our football will always live in the heart of the Neftchi family.