The Armenian National Football Team

Armenian National Team

It is a fact that the most popular sport in the world is football (also known as soccer). Football is also a big part of Armenian culture – they have league football, as well as a national team. The Armenian National Football Team (nicknamed Havakakan, which literally means ‘collective team’) is based at The Republican Stadium in Yerevan and its head coach is Vardan Minasyan. It represents Armenia in association football and is co-ordinated the FFA (Football Federation of Armenia), which is the administrating body for football in Armenia.

History
Before the country’s independence from the USSR in 1991, the Armenian SSR used to play for The Soviet Union National Football Team. Following the country’s aforementioned independence, the FFA was established in January, 1992 – fostering relations with FIFA later in 1992 and UEFA in 1993. Playing its very first game against Moldova, which was a goalless draw, is where the true history of the team began. However, they have come a very long way since then and should be extremely proud that they have risen from being ranked 159th by FIFA in 1994 to being ranked 35th in 2013.

Stadium
The now named Republican Stadium was originally built in 1953 and took a year to build. From when originally built (during the Soviet period) up until 1999, it was known as Dinamo Stadium. However, it was renovated in 1999, renamed in honour of the Armenian war hero and former Prime Minister of Armenia (Vazgen Sargsyan) and became the home ground for Armenia in 2000 with capacity for nearly 15,000 patrons. In 2008, in order to meet UEFA standards, the stadium underwent another significant transformation to upgrade the playing surface and construct a VIP section alongside other facilities. Currently, it is the home grounds for two local football clubs: Pyunik Yerevan and Ulisses Yervan.

Current Performance and a Shining Star
In recent years, the Armenian national team has done remarkably well for such a small country. As previously mentioned, last year, they reached their highest ever position in the FIFA world rankings - rising to 35th in the world. In October of 2013, during the teams qualifying run for the 2014 World Cup in Rio, Armenia beat Bulgaria 2-1 at the Republican Stadium. However, the team did not reach the World Cup having finished in 5th place from a group of six, with only minnows Malta below them.

In January 2014, Armenian forward Yura Movsisyan, currently in the Armenian national squad, is the top target for VfL Wolfsburg in Germany. The club have offered €7.5 Million to Spartak Moscow to bring the Russian Leagues top scorer to the Bundesliga. Definitely a shining star and a point of pride for Armenia!