FC Ararat Yerevan

Ararat Yerevan
Full name	Football Club Ararat Yerevan
Nickname(s)	White Eagles
Founded	May 10, 1935; 88 years ago
Ground	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, Yerevan
Capacity	14,403
Owner	Vartan Sirmakes & Hrach Kaprielian
Chairman	Hrach Kaprielian
Manager	Varuzhan Sukiasyan
League	Armenian Premier League
2014–15	8th
Website	Club home page
Home colours	Away colours

Football Club Ararat Yerevan (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Արարատ Երևան), commonly known as Ararat Yerevan, is an Armenian football club based in Yerevan. Currently, they play at the Armenian Premier League. Ararat Yerevan are the most popular football club in Armenia.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1999, the club is owned by the Switzerland-based Armenian businessmen Vartan Sirmakes and Hrach Kaprielian.

History

In 1935 a football team was established in Yerevan by Spartak sports society. The first time the team participated in the competitions of the national level. The first trophy of the club was the Armenian SSR Cup in 1940. In the next 4 years soccer was not played because of World War II.

In 1944 games of USSR Cup were resumed, and Spartak participated. A match was set up with their main rivals, fellow FC Dinamo Tbilisi. However, the match was not played through the fault of Yerevan.^[2]^[3] In 1947 the team becomes silver medalist in the second league of the Transcaucasian region. The team finished just one point behind the ODL from Tbilisi. In this championship, Spartak, in a home match against Tbilisi Wings of the Soviets, showed the best result at the time, beating them by the score 7:1.^[4]^[5] In Season 1948 Spartak was to start in the first group (the Premier League at the time), but after 30 games along with 15 other clubs had been withdrawn. All 16 clubs have continued to participate in the league below. Spartak have spent the next season in the second group, improved their performance and won the competition in the South Zone. The team won 13 matches out of 18. However, the first place in the zonal group did not guarantee promotion. According to the regulations of the USSR Championship, the winners of zones in the second league should have played each other in the final stage. At this stage, 6 teams participated. Games between the teams went into a circle. After 5 games Spartak has settled on the third place, which ensured the club a place in the first group.^[6]^[7]

Hrazdan Stadium, the home ground of Ararat Yerevan between 1971 and 2015

In 1949 at Spartak participated for the first time in the Soviet Top League. The team performed poorly, finishing 12th. In the first two rounds the team lost, but in the 3rd round victory was recorded in a home game against the Air Force (Moscow).^[8] To beat the team was able representatives of the second half of the table, and twice on the road. There were 3 major defeat: the double-0:6 from Moscow Lokomotiv and CDKA, and once 1:6 – from Tbilisi "Dynamo". However, despite the poor performance, the club remained in the top league for next season, as the latter two dropped out of the club, ranked 17th and 18th place in the standings.^[9]^[10] Cup battles ended at the first stage, against the Dynamo "from Stalinabad.^[11] In 1950 season, Spartak began to act more liberated. The first lesion was detected only in the fourth round of the Leningrad "Zenit". The team scored 31 points with team-mates from Kiev, but on goal difference in the Class "B" sunk Spartak. In the Soviet Cup team started with a 1 / 128 final. Having weak rivals in 1/16-oy stumbled on rivals in the face Dynamo Kiev. In the hard game, which was held in Kiev, Spartak celebrated victory 3:2. In 1 / 8 final meeting with "Dynamo," Moscow and lost with a score of 0:7.^[12]

In 1960–1963 1966–1991 s team participated in the Soviet Top League. In 1973 "Ararat" won the Soviet Cup. In 1971 1976 (Spring) years became a silver medalist championship, and in 1975 again won the USSR Cup.

In total the team participated in 33 Soviet Top League seasons, playing 1,026 matches, of which they won 352, drew 280, lost 394, scored 1,150 goals and conceded 1,306. By 1975 the team participated in the lottery three European Cups. In the last USSR Championship in 1991, the team was finished in seventh place.

Soviet championships

FC Ararat logo during the Soviet era.

By 1945–1947, Ararat swept the Armenian SSR League and by 1949 had won promotion into the Soviet Top League. The team played in the Top League in 1949–1950, 1960–1963, and 1965–1991. In 1971, Ararat finished second in the Top League. In 1973 they won the Top League and the Soviet Cup (in a memorable final game against Dynamo Kyiv). They won the cup again in 1975. In 1971 and 1976 Spring (there were two Soviet championships in 1976 — Spring and Fall) they were the league runners-up. In 1974–75 Ararat competed in the European Cup, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to defending and eventual champions Bayern Munich 2–1 on aggregate (0–2 in Munich and 1–0 in Yerevan). Since their debut in the European tournaments in 1972, they have won 16 of their 36 matches with 4 draws.

Ararat in 1973 final	Ararat in 1975 final

Modern history

Dzoraghbyur Training Centre

Since the 1991 dissolution of Soviet Union, Ararat has attained the Armenian Championship only once in 1993 and won four silver prizes (1997, 1999, 2000 and 2008) and one bronze prize (1994). In addition, the club has won the Armenian Cup five times (1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2008) and were finalists in 2001 and 2007. They also were very close to taking the Armenian title in 2007, however the unexpected resignation of head coach Varuzhan Sukiasyan changed the atmosphere on the team and the club ended up in fourth place. In March 2008, former coach Varuzhan Sukiasyan returned to take charge of the team again. After failing to take the title from Pyunik in 2008, Varuzhan Sukiasyan left the club.

The club headquarters are located on Agatangeghos street 2, Yerevan.^[13]The club's Dzoraghbyur Training Centre is located in the Dzoraghbyur village of Kotayk Province, at the eastern outskirts of Yerevan.

Honours

Soviet Top League / Armenian Premier League: 2

1973, 1993

Soviet Cup / Armenian Cup: 7

1973, 1975, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2008

Armenian Supercup: 1

2008

IFA Shield: 1

1978

Soviet First League: 1

1965

Other notable achievements

Soviet Top League runner-up: 1971, 1976
Soviet Cup runner-up: 1954, 1976
European Cup quarterfinalist: 1974–1975
European Cup Winners' Cup 1/16 finalist: 1975–1976
UEFA Cup 1/16 finalist: 1972–1973

Ararat in Europe

^[14]

Results

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
1972–73	UEFA Cup	1R	EPA Larnaca	1–0	1–0	2–0
		2R	Grasshopper Zürich	4–2	3–1	7–3
		3R	Kaiserslautern	2–0	0–2	2–2 (4–5 p)
1974–75	UEFA European Cup	1R	Viking Stavanger	4–2	2–0	6–2
		2R	Cork Celtic	5–0	2–1	7–1
		QF	Bayern Munich	1–0	0–2	1–2
1975–76	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Anorthosis Famagusta	9–0	1–1	10–1
1975–76	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	2R	West Ham United	1–1	1–3	2–4
1994–95	UEFA Cup	PR	CSKA Sofia	0–0	0–3	0–3
1995–96	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	GKS Katowice	2–0	0–2	2–2 (5–4 p)
1995–96	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Dynamo Moscow	1–0	1–3	2–3
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	FC Dinamo Batumi	0–2	3–0	3–2
1997–98	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Copenhagen	0–2	0–3	0–5
1999	UEFA Intertoto Cup	Q	Bacău	1–0	1–0	2–0
1999	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Sint-Truiden	0–2	1–3	1–5
2000–01	UEFA Cup	Q	Košice	2–3	1–1	3–4
2001–02	UEFA Cup	Q	Hapoel Tel Aviv	0–2	0–3	0–5
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Neuchâtel Xamax	1–3	0–6	1–9
2007	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R	Shakhtyor Soligorsk	2–0	1–4	3–4
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q	Bellinzona	0–1	1–3	1–4

UEFA club competition record

Competition	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	6	5	0	1	14	5
UEFA Europa League	0	0	0	0	0	0
UEFA Cup	14	6	2	7	15	5
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	12	4	1	5	19	17
UEFA Intertoto Cup	8	3	0	5	7	21
Total	40	18	3	18	55	48

Club records in UEFA competitions

Biggest Win in UEFA Competition: 17/09/1975, Ararat 9–0 Anorthosis, in Yerevan
Biggest Defeat in UEFA Competition: 23/06/2007, Shakhtyor 4–1 Ararat, in Soligorsk
Club Appearances in UEFA Competition: 12
Player with Most UEFA Appearances: Aleksei Abramian and Norik Mesropian – 16 appearances
Top Scorer in UEFA Club Competitions: Eduard Markarov – 12 goals

Current squad

As of 1 August 2015

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Aram Ayrapetyan
2	DF	Vahe Martirosyan
3	DF	Juliano Gimenez
4	DF	Souleymane Kone
5	MF	Norayr Grigoryan
6	MF	Ararat Poghosyan
8	MF	Mher Sahakyan
9	FW	Gevorg Nranyan
10	FW	David Ghandilyan
11	MF	Bryan de la Fuente
15	MF	Oumarou Kaina

No.	Position	Player
17	MF	Raffi Kaya
18	DF	Gorik Khachatryan (captain)
19	MF	Moisés Orozco
20	MF	Sargis Karapetyan
21	MF	Benik Hovhannisyan
22	GK	Gevorg Prazyan
25	MF	Zaven Bulut
88	GK	Levon Minasyan
	DF	Karen Khachatryan
	MF	Areg Azatyan