FC Ararat Yerevan

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.

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. 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. 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was to start in the first group (the Premier League at the time), but after 30 games along with 15 other clubs had been withdrawn.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.

Yerevan

Yerevan (/ˌjɛrəˈvɑːn/; (Eastern Armenian: Երևան; Western Armenian: Երեւան) [jɛɾɛˈvɑn],  listen ), is the capital and largest city of Armenia, and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia, and the seventh located in or around the Ararat plain.

The history of Yerevan dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by king Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. Erebuni was "designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a fully royal capital." During the centuries long Iranian rule over Eastern Armenia that lasted from the early 16th century up to 1828, it was the center of Iran's Erivan khanate administrative division from 1736. In 1828, it became part of Imperial Russia alongside the rest of Eastern Armenia which conquered it from Iran through the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828). After World War I, Yerevan became the capital of the First Republic of Armenia as thousands of survivors of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire settled in the area. The city expanded rapidly during the 20th century as Armenia became part of the Soviet Union. In a few decades, Yerevan was transformed from a provincial town within the Russian Empire, to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.

Ararat

Ararat or in Western Armenian Ararad may refer to:

Personal names

Places

Armenian Highland

United States

FC Pyunik

Football Club Pyunik (Armenian: Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ), commonly known as Pyunik, is an Armenian professional football club based in Yerevan. Pyunik is one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia.

The club headquarters are located on Masis street 7, Yerevan. The Pyunik Training Centre is located in the Kentron District of Yerevan.

The owner of the club is the Armenian businessman Samvel Aleksanyan.

History

Founded in 1992 as Homenetmen Yerevan, the club won the first Armenian Premier League competition held in 1992 (shared with Shirak). In 1995, Homenetmen Yerevan was renamed FC Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix").

The new era of Pyunik began in 2001, when they absorbed the newly-promoted club FC Armenicum and automatically gained position in the Armenian Premier League without playing a single game in the lower leagues. The new owner of the club Ruben Hayrapetyan, took serious approach to develop the team bringing star players from other Armenian clubs. Pyunik had significantly improved after the arrival of foreign players from Mali, Cameroon, Argentina and later from Romania. Thus, Pyunik won the Armenian Premier League title the same year and the Armenian Cup in 2002. Later, for the first time in independent Armenian club history an Armenian club advanced to the second round in the Champions League. Afterwards, the club won the Armenian Premier League title ten times in a row.