Neftchi's squad always had talented players who were able to accurately execute 11-meter penalty kicks. Valeri Hajiyev, Ali Rahmanov and Asif Aliyev can be included in this category. However, Igor Ponomaryov was a master of penalty not only for Neftchi, but for all USSR football. During his career, 31 of the 33 shots from 11 meters were accurate. He performed 24 of them in a row. According to this indicator, Ponomaryov became the record holder of the former Soviet Union, ahead of Ploskina from Chernomorets. In the match against Zenit in Baku in 1981, Igor, who could not take advantage of the last penalty, scored all 24 shots. The record was set in 1988 in the match between Neftchi and Lokomotiv. During this time, Victor Chanov, Otar Gabelia, Rinat Dasayev and many other strong goalkeepers were forced to take the ball out of the goal after his shots.

Ponomaryov can be considered a real Baku resident. His ancestors moved to Baku during the famine in Russia in the last century. Like Igor, his father was born in Baku and worked in a factory. Then his father became interested in football. As a result of his father's efforts, Igor joined the Strela children's team in 1969. Here, coach Vagif Akhundov becomes his first football teacher. At the age of 13, he moved to Spartak, led by Anvar Guliyev. However, after training here for a year, he suddenly quit football and wants to be admitted to a technical school. However, Anvar Guliyev's insistence, as well as his invitation to the national team of Azerbaijan, distracts him.

Ponomaryov is one of the promising young people invited by Gennady Bondarenko to Neftchi. His debut in the team coincided with the 1/4 finals of the USSR Cup in 1978 in Shakhtar with Donetsk. Ponomaryov recalls that period: “My contact with Ali Rahmanov and Rafig Guliyev gave me a lot. Thanks to their help, I quickly got used to the team and became a real member of it. "

Ponomaryov's first steps were successful not only in Neftchi, but in big football in general. In his debut year, he became a European champion among 18-year-olds in the USSR national team. A year later, he won a silver medal at the world youth championship for the first time, along with another Baku resident, Vladimir Mikhailevsky.

Ponomaryov was already becoming a key player for Neftchi. The young player's spark soon began to attract the attention of other clubs. He was invited to the USSR national team in 1980 to play against Argentina. Konstantin Beskov, the team's head coach at the time, approached Igor after the game and offered to move to Spartak, claiming that if he moved to the Moscow club, the way to the national team would be open. However, Igor rejected this offer and remained loyal to Neftchi. This action closes his way to the team once and for all. But what Beskov failed to do was later overtaken by the Moscow military. With Ponomaryov's graduation from the sports institute, his military service ended. First, Moscow Dynamo wants to see him in its squad. Then the capital's military intervenes. They even threaten Neftchi's management, saying that "if you do not release Ponomaryov, we will call up half of your team for military service."

Thus, Igor left Neftchi for "armed forces" and in 1982 had to move to OMIK. Ponomaryova, who wants to return to her home team after a year, is not allowed by the OMIK management. Thus, Heydar Aliyev, who always kept Neftchi in the spotlight, intervened. Only then can Ponomaryov return to Baku. After returning to Neftchi, he became a leading member of the team. Despite playing in midfield, he became the team's top scorer during the 1983 season. It is as a result of his excellent game in midfield and accurate passes that the Ponomaryov-Ahmadov-Javadov "trio" is formed after Banishevsky-Markarov-Tuayev. This "trio" achieved a unique result in the 1985 season, scoring 26 of the 30 wholesale goals scored by Neftchi. Ponomaryov is Neftchi's top scorer next season with 10 goals.

The peak of Ponomaryov's career occurred in 1988. Despite Neftchi's struggle to maintain its place in the top flight, his game has not escaped the attention of experts, and he was invited by the head coach of the USSR Olympic team Anatoly Byshovets. However, due to injury, he appeared only once in the finals of the Olympics-88. However, like his teammates, he eventually won a gold medal. Thus, Ponomaryov became the first and only Olympic champion in football in Azerbaijan.

Igor's last match in "Neftchi" coincided with the cup competition, as in his debut match. In 1989, Minsk wore the uniform of Neftchi for the last time in a cup match with Dynamo. Later, Ponomaryov went to Sweden to continue his career and became an Olympic champion and penalty shooter in the history of Neftchi.