FC Pyunik facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Pyunik
Փյունիկ

Full name	Football Club Pyunik
Nickname(s)	Նռնագույններ (Pomegranate Color)
Founded	20 January 1992; 32 years ago (1992-01-20)
Ground	Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium
Ground Capacity	14,403
Ground Coordinates	40°10′19″N 44°31′33″E / 40.17194°N 44.52583°E / 40.17194; 44.52583
President	Arthur Soghomonyan
Manager	Yegishe Melikyan
League	Armenian Premier League
2023–24	1st of 10 (Champions)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Football Club Pyunik (Armenian: Փյունիկ Ֆուտբոլային ակումբ), commonly known as Pyunik (lit. Phoenix), is an Armenian professional sports club based in the Kentron neighbourhood of Yerevan. Pyunik is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its creation in 1992, has always played in the Armenian Premier League, becoming the most successful team of Armenia in number of official titles, with 34 won to date.

Internationally, Pyunik has yet to win an international title, with the closest result being a bronze place finish in the 2006 Commonwealth of Independent States Cup. Pyunik's domestic success usually qualifies the team for UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. Pyunik is also known to be one of the most popular football clubs in Armenia, along with Urartu, Shirak and Ararat.

Pyunik has always had a fierce rivalry with Ararat, as both clubs are considered to be the most successful clubs in Armenia, the latter due to its Soviet accomplishments. Both clubs are also the two most popular in the country and favorites within the Armenian Diaspora. Pyunik also shares a rivalry with Urartu which began when Urartu relocated from Abovyan to Yerevan in 2001, and became the third largest team in the city. The Pyunik-Urartu rivalry is seen as one of the biggest clashes in Armenian football.

Pyunik's home stadium is the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium, which is also home to the Armenia national football team. The youth academy has produced many Armenian internationals such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Robert Arzumanyan, Karlen Mkrtchyan, Edgar Manucharyan, Varazdat Haroyan and Gevorg Ghazaryan, many who have played or are playing for top European clubs.

History

Pyunik was founded in 1992 by Armenian football legend Khoren Oganesian and originally named Homenetmen Yerevan. The club won the first Armenian Premier League competition held in 1992 which it shared with Shirak since both teams were tied on points. In 1995, Homenetmen Yerevan was renamed FC Pyunik (Armenian for "Phoenix"). Following the change of name, Pyunik went on to win the 1995–96 Armenian Premier League and end the season with a 59-match unbeaten streak.

In 1996, Pyunik played its first international cup match, a UEFA Europa League qualifying match against Finnish club HJK Helsinki which Pyunik won 3–1. Pyunik also won the 1996-97 Armenian Premier League securing itself another chance at qualifying for an international cup playoffs the following year.

In 1997, Pyunik played its first UEFA Champions League qualifying match against Hungarian side MTK Budapest FC yet failed to qualify for the playoffs following a 6–3 defeat on aggregate.

1998 proved to be a crucial year for the club following the loss of its main source of funding and the subsequent departure of its main players. Pyunik finished 6th that season and withdrew from football altogether.

Pyunik secured a comeback to professional football following its absorption of FC Armenicum, a newly promoted team to the Armenian Premier League. The club's new management sought to bring more experience to the club and reinforced the squad with foreign players from Argentina, Cameroon, Mali and Romania. The reinforcements brought positive results and Pyunik went on to win the 2001 Armenian Premier League and 2002 Armenian Cup.

2002 saw Pyunik advance to the second round of the UEFA Champions League qualifying round after beating Finnish champions Tampere United 6–0 on aggregate. From 2002 forwards, Pyunik went on to win the Armenian Premier League a record of 10 times in a row, from 2001 to 2010.

On 8 January 2020, former Armenian international goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky was announced as the club's new manager. Just over 7-months later, 13 July 2020, Berezovsky left the club by mutual consent. On 20 July 2020, Artak Oseyan was announced as Pyunik's new manager, but left his role as head coach on 13 December 2020. On 7 January 2021, Yegishe Melikyan was announced as Pyunik's new manager.

In the 2022/23 season, after victories over Cluj and Dudelange, Pyunik became the first ever Armenian club to reach the third round of Champions League qualifying, where they played against former European Champions Crvena Zvezda, losing 7–0 on aggregate.

Subsequently, Pyunik dropped into the play-off round of the Europa League, where they played against the Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol. After two scoreless draws, Pyunik lost on penalties, thus dropping into the group stages of the Conference League, the first ever group stage appearance in a European competition for the club.

After a defeat away against Basel on the first matchday, Pyunik faced Slovan Bratislava in their first home match in Yerevan, which they won thanks to goals from Artak Dashyan and Yusuf Otubanjo. This result meant that they became the first ever Armenian team to win a game in UEFA group stage competitions.

Domestic history

Season	League									Armenian Cup	Top goalscorer		Manager
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P		Name	League
1992	Armenian Premier League	1st	22	17	3	2	75	31	37	Runner-Up	Poghos Galstyan	26
1993		4th	28	21	3	4	80	29	45	Semi-final	Gegham Hovhannisyan	26
1994		2nd	28	23	1	4	113	24	47	Semi-final	Arsen Avetisyan	39
1995		2nd1	10	5	4	1	31	8	19	Quarter-final	Arsen Avetisyan	12
1995–96		1st	22	19	3	0	71	14	60	Winner
1996–97		1st	22	19	2	1	67	9	59	Runner-Up	Arsen Avetisyan	24
1997		4th	18	11	2	5	42	16	35		Varazdat Avetisyan	10
1998		6th	26	6	3	17	27	68	21	Semi-final
1999	Club did not participate.
2000
2001	Armenian Premier League	1st	22	17	2	3	77	23	53	Semi-final	Arman Karamyan	21	Samvel Darbinyan
2002		1st	22	19	2	1	85	14	59	Winner	Arman Karamyan	36
2003		1st	28	23	5	0	87	11	74	Semi-final	Galust Petrosyan	12
2004		1st	28	22	5	1	89	25	71	Winner	Edgar Manucharyan Galust Petrosyan	21
2005		1st	20	11	6	3	35	15	39	Quarter-final	Tigran Davtyan	9
2006		1st	28	23	4	1	86	23	73	Runner-Up	Arsen Avetisyan	15
2007		1st	28	18	3	7	58	22	57	Semi-final	Henrikh Mkhitaryan	12
2008		1st2	28	18	5	5	40	18	59	Semi-final	Albert Tadevosyan	10
2009		1st	28	20	5	3	64	13	65	Winner	Henrikh Mkhitaryan	11
2010		1st	28	20	5	3	73	22	65	Winner	Gevorg Ghazaryan Marcos Pizzelli	16
2011		3rd	28	12	10	6	33	28	46	Quarter-final	Edgar Manucharyan	8
2011–12		Only Cup competition was held	Quarter-final
2012–13		4th	42	19	6	17	67	51	63	Winner	Viulen Ayvazyan	11
2013–14		6th	28	8	8	12	41	39	32	Winner	Sarkis Baloyan	10
2014–15		1st	28	19	4	5	58	26	61	Winner	César Romero	21
2015–16		3rd	28	13	9	6	44	21	48	Quarter-final	Vardan Pogosyan	9
2016–17		4th	30	12	9	9	35	27	45	Runner-Up	Alik Arakelyan	6	Sargis Hovsepyan Artak Oseyan
2017–18		5th	30	9	9	12	37	41	36	Quarter-final	Alik Arakelyan	7	Armen Gyulbudaghyants Aleksei Yeryomenko Armen Gyulbudaghyants
2018–19		2nd	32	18	6	8	46	32	60	Quarter-final	Erik Vardanyan	8	Andrei Talalayev Aleksandr Tarkhanov
2019–20		8th	22	8	2	12	39	42	26	Second Round	Denis Mahmudov	9	Aleksandr Tarkhanov Suren Chakhalyan (Caretaker) Roman Berezovsky
2020–21		7th	24	6	7	11	20	18	25	First Round	José Caraballo	3	Artak Oseyan Yegishe Melikyan
2021–22		1st	32	23	6	3	52	25	75	Quarterfinal	Hugo Firmino	16	Yegishe Melikyan
2022–23		2nd	36	25	5	6	72	23	80	Semifinal	Luka Juričić Yusuf Otubanjo	17	Yegishe Melikyan
2023–24		1st	36	24	10	2	84	28	82	Semifinal	Yusuf Otubanjo	21	Yegishe Melikyan

• Due to the 1995 season being a transitional season, there was no official winner of championship.
• Championship was decided by a decision game.

European history

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1996–97	UEFA Cup	QR	HJK Helsinki	3–1	2–5 (aet)	5–6
1997–98	UEFA Champions League	1Q	MTK Budapest	0–2	3–4	3–6
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Tampere United	2–0	4–0	6–0
		2Q	Dynamo Kyiv	2–2	0–4	2–6
2003–04	UEFA Champions League	1Q	KR Reykjavík	1–0	1–1	2–1
		2Q	CSKA Sofia	0–2	0–1	0–3
2004–05	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Pobeda Prilep	1–1	3–1	4–2
		2Q	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–3	0–1	1–4
2005–06	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Haka Valkeakoski	2–2	0–1	2–3
2006–07	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Sheriff Tiraspol	0–0	0–2	0–2
2007–08	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Derry City	2–0	0–0	2–0
		2Q	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–2	1–2	1–4
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Anorthosis Famagusta	0–2	0–1	0–3
2009–10	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Dinamo Zagreb	0–0	0–3	0–3
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Partizan Belgrade	0–1	1–3	1–4
2011–12	UEFA Champions League	2Q	Viktoria Plzeň	0–4	1–5	1–9
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Zeta Golubovci	0–3	2–1	2–4
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Teteks Tetovo	1–0	1–1	2–1
		2Q	Žalgiris Vilnius	1–1	0–2	1–3
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Astana	1–4	0–2	1–6
2015–16	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Folgore	2–1	2–1	4–2
		2Q	Molde	1–0	0–5	1–5
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Europa FC	2–1	0–2	2–3
2017–18	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Slovan Bratislava	1–4	0–5	1–9
2018–19	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Vardar	1–0	2–0	3–0
		2Q	Tobol	1–0	1–2	2–2 (a)
		3Q	Maccabi Tel Aviv	0–0	1–2	1–2
2019–20	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Shkupi	3–3	2–1	5–4
		2Q	Jablonec	2–1	0–0	2–1
		3Q	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0–4	0–4	0–8
2022–23	UEFA Champions League	1Q	CFR Cluj	0–0	2–2 (aet)	2–2 (4–3 p)
		2Q	F91 Dudelange	0–1	4−1	4−2
		3Q	Red Star Belgrade	0–2	0–5	0–7
	UEFA Europa League	PO	Sheriff Tiraspol	0–0	0–0	0–0 (2–3 p)
	UEFA Europa Conference League	Group H	Basel	1–2	1–3	3rd
			Slovan Bratislava	2−0	1–2
			Žalgiris	2−0	1–2
2023–24	UEFA Europa Conference League	1Q	Narva Trans	2−0	3−0	5−0
		2Q	Kalmar FF	2−1	2−1	4−2
		3Q	Bodø/Glimt	0–3	0–3	0–6
2024–25	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Dinamo Minsk	0–1	0–0	0–1
	UEFA Conference League	2Q	Struga	3–1	1–2	4–3
		3Q	Ordabasy	1−0	1−0	2−0
		PO	Celje	1−0	1–4	2–4

Kit and badge

Throughout the seasons, Pyunik has predominantly worn blue and white jerseys, with a few exceptions including Pyunik's first jerseys which were orange and

Puma is the club's current kit supplier since 2019.

On 3 August 2020, Pyunik announced that Joma would be supplying the team's kit for the 2020–21 season.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

Badge

The club has had five different designs for its badge during its history, with the first three designs being significantly different from each other. Following the club's reappearance in 2001, Pyunik introduced its iconic logo design which included a bold letter P placed on top of a football. The club kept this design for 13 years before introducing a double-headed golden phoenix crest in 2014. This change resulted unpopular among the fans and Pyunik introduced a new badge in 2019, this time returning to its original round shape with a predominantly blue logo and a red phoenix in the center.

• 

  2014–18

• 

  2019–present

Stadium

The stadium during Soviet era

Stadium view

The stadium during a Champions League qualifying match

Pyunik used several locations throughout its history. Between 1992 and 1998, Pyunik played at Hrazdan Stadium, Armenia's largest stadium with a capacity for 54,208 spectators.

In 2001, following the renovations works done at the Republican Stadium two years before, Pyunik relocated and played all its home matches there until 2013, with a brief interruption in 2008, when the club was forced to play at Pyunik Stadium; its training ground, due to renovation works at the Republican Stadium.

Between 2013 and 2017, the Yerevan Football Academy served as a home venue for all domestic competitions, while still using the Republican Stadium for international fixtures. At the beginning of 2017–18 Armenian Premier League season, Pyunik used the Republican Stadium as a home venue during the first half of the season, and eventually returning to their own Pyunik Stadium during the second half.

The Republican Stadium is also the home of the Armenia national football team, and is sometimes used by other Armenian teams for their international cup fixtures.

The club is currently planning on building an all-seater 5,000 capacity stadium by 2022.

List of stadiums used by the club

• Hrazdan Stadium: 1992–98
• Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium: 2001–08
• Pyunik Stadium: 2008
• Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium: 2008–13
• Yerevan Football Academy Stadium: 2013–17
• Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium/Pyunik Stadium: 2017–18
• Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium: 2018–present

Supporters

Pyunik's supporter base is traditionally regarded as part of Yerevan's higher class, in contrast with the supposedly more lower-class base of cross-town arch rival FC Urartu. Because of the club's history and recent success, the fanbase has grown not only in Yerevan, but in other provinces of Armenia and within the Armenian Diaspora as well.

Pyunik is considered to be one of the most popular clubs in Armenia, and has one of the biggest Ultras fanbases in Armenia, called Sector 18, named after the sector they occupy at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium.

Rivalries

Pyunik's rivalry with Ararat originates with the creation of the club itself. Pyunik's founder Khoren Oganesian, is considered an Ararat club idol, due to his achievements at the club during the Soviet period, winning the 1975 Soviet Cup. Pyunik's success in recent history has led the club's image to surpass that of Ararat, which has led to arguments over which club has had a bigger impact on Armenian football.

The other rivalry, between Pyunik and Urartu is also known as the clash of Yerevan neighborhoods, since Pyunik is located in the wealthier Kentron neighborhood, whereas Urartu is located in the lower-class Malatia-Sebastia neighborhood. The rivalry between both teams originates from Urartu's relocation from Abovyan to Yerevan in 2001, competing with and eventually becoming one of the largest teams in the city. Both teams' youth academies also compete with each other as they are considered to be two of the best in the country.

Players

Current squad

No. Position Player 2 FW Luka Juričić (on loan from CFR Cluj) 3 DF Arman Hovhannisyan 4 MF Solomon Udo 5 DF James Santos 6 DF Juninho 7 FW Edgar Malakyan (captain) 8 FW Serges Déblé 9 FW João Paredes 10 MF Artak Grigoryan 14 FW Yusuf Otubanjo 15 DF Mikhail Kovalenko 16 GK Henri Avagyan 17 MF Levon Petrosayan 18 FW José Caraballo 20 MF Lucas Villela

No. Position Player 21 FW Agdon Menezes 22 DF Alemão 23 FW Vagner 29 MF Eugeniu Cociuc 32 GK Sergey Mikaelyan 33 DF Taron Voskanyan 35 MF Petros Alekyan 44 DF Juan Bravo 66 MF Martim Maia 71 GK Stanislav Buchnev 77 FW Sani Buhari 79 DF Serhiy Vakulenko 95 DF Anton Bratkov 97 DF David Davidyan

Out on loan

No. Position Player DF Mark Avetisyan (at BKMA Yerevan) MF Vyacheslav Afyan (at BKMA Yerevan) MF Artur Grigoryan (at BKMA Yerevan)

No. Position Player MF Karlen Hovhannisyan (at BKMA Yerevan) FW Aris Karapetyan (at BKMA Yerevan) FW Levon Vardanyan (at BKMA Yerevan)

Technical staff

Position	Name
Manager	Yegishe Melikyan
Assistant coach	Roman Monarev
Goalkeepers Coach	Vladimir Vardanyan
Team Doctor	Vahagn Gevorgyan
Masseur	Hayk Mnatsakanyan and Robert Nersisyan
Team Administrator	Hovhannes Hayrapetyan
Team Manager	Hovhannes Hayrapetyan
Pyunik-2 Coach	Albert Sargsyan

Institutional

Executive board

Arthur Soghomonyan is the current owner and President of Pyunik since 2017.

• Vice-president: Robert Gasparyan
• 2nd Vice-president: Aleksandr Tarkhanov
• Executive Director: Tigran Martirosyan

Staff

• Development: Aleksandr Tarkhanov
• Youth Academy: Albert Sargsyan
• Sporting director: Samvel Arustamyan
• Chief scout: Robert Arzumanyan
• Press Secretary: Shushanik Hakobyan
• Marketing and Public Relations: Vera Martirosyan
• Officer: Vardan Tsaturyan

Honours

• Armenian Premier League
  • Champions (16): 1992, 1995–96, 1996–97, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014–15, 2021–22, 2023–24 (record)
  • Runners-up (2): 2018–19, 2022–23
• Armenian Cup
  • Winners (8): 1995–96, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 (record)
  • Runners-up (3): 1996–97 2006, 2016–17
• Armenian Super Cup
  • Winners (10): 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2022 (record)
  • Runners-up (6): 1996, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014

Other sports sections

Football reserves and academy

The reserve is currently coached by Yuri Tarkhanov and competes in the Armenian First League. The youth academy is managed by Albert Sargsyan.

Notable players from the youth academy include Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Robert Arzumanyan, Karlen Mkrtchyan, Edgar Manucharyan, Varazdat Haroyan and Gevorg Ghazaryan.

See also

In Spanish: Football Club Pyunik para niños

• Football in Armenia
• Football Federation of Armenia