On December 10, the last Urartu FC match took place in 2021, during which our footballers faced Noah FC, the match itself ended in a draw 1-1. And we suggest you to recall the main events that took place in the outgoing year 2021.

 

CHANGES IN THE COACHING STAFF AND REACHING THE TOP-3

As you know, the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 were difficult. Almost at the beginning of the second half of the season, changes in the coaching staff took place in the team: Aleksander Grigoryan, who had been leading the team for almost a year and a half, left the post of head coach, and Robert Arzumanyan, who had previously headed Urartu-2 team, came to replace him. Corresponding changes took place in the coaching staff of the second team of Urartu FC, Aram Bareghamyan was appointed to the post of head coach.

Urartu FC footballers fought for the championship almost to the very end, however, in the last round our guys managed to catch hold of the top-3 and snatch a ticket to European cups, where they, along with the football clubs Noah and Ararat, had to play for the first time in the newly created UEFA Europe Conference League.

 

EURO SUMMER

At the stage of the first qualifying round of the UEFA Europe Conference League, our rivals were Slovenian NK Maribor, which is quite well known to all football fans. According to the draw, the first match turned out to be a guest match for us, so the team and staff departed for Slovenia. The match, which took place at the Ljudski Vrt stadium, ended with a victory for the hosts with a minimum score of 1-0, however, many journalists, and football fans in general, then noted the decent game demonstrated by Urartu FC players. Unfortunately, the second leg match, which took place in Yerevan, also ended with a minimal victory for NK Maribor, as a result of which our European Cup summer came to an end.

START OF SEASON 2021/22

The early end of the European competition gave us time to prepare for the start of the new season, where we were awaited by both the already familiar rivals and Sevan FC, Noravank SC and BKMA that had risen from the Armenian First League.

The start of the season for us was, one might say, very successful. As a result of the first two rounds, our players managed to score 7 goals into the opponents' goal, and at the same time concede only one goal.

REGULAR GUESTS AND NEW TICKETS SYSTEM

In the 2021/21 season, we first applied the QR-code system on tickets during home matches, and for the first time we applied the online ticket purchase system in a special section on the club's official website. At the beginning of the current season, some regular visitors to our home matches, to be more exact, the beloved actor Khoren Levonyan and the world-famous and no less beloved boxer Arthur Abraham, were presented with membership cards and personal seats at our stadium as a sign of respect.

QUARTER FINAL OF THE ARMENIAN CUP

Despite the stagnation in Vbet Armenian Premier League, our guys showed character in the fight for the cup. As you know, the players of Urartu FC entered the fight at the stage of the 1/4th final, where Alashkert FC became our rival. According to the draw, the match turned out to be home for us, which was important. As a result, 90 minutes, thanks to two goals scored by Jonel Desire and Hakob Hakobyan, Urartu FC players turned out to be the strongest, thus earning a place in the semi-final of the Cup. In addition to the lions in 1/2 also will play Noravank SC, Van FC and Ararat FC.

 

END OF AUTUMN PART OF 2021/22

In general, Urartu FC players scored 19 goals in the first half of the season and conceded 17 goals (* taking into account the matches with Sevan FC), having 5 victories, 5 matches ended in a draw and 6 times the team lost. At the moment, the club is in 6th place, 5 points behind Alashkert, which is in 5th place.

A LITTLE STATISTICS

The maximum number of matches (* taking into account the matches with Sevan FC) in the current season of Vbet Armenian Premier League for Urartu FC was played by 5 players: Ugochukwu Iwa (16 matches, 1421 minutes), Oleg Poliakov (16 matches, 1335 minutes), Narek Aghasaryan (16 matches, 1282 minutes), Narek Grigoryan (16 matches, 1011 minutes) and Karen Melkonyan (16 matches, 609 minutes), however, the place of Grigoryan and Melkonyan in the five players who spent the most minutes on the field took Salomon Nirisarike (13 matches, 1165 minutes) and Hakob Hakobyan (13 matches, 1092 minutes).

Oleg Poliakov has the most goals, who managed to score 5 times, followed by Narek Grigoryan with 4 goals, and Jonel Desire and Ugochukwu Iwu scored 3 goals each.

The best assists at the moment are Hakob Hakobyan and Oleg Poliakov, both assisting 3 times.

CALL UPS TO THE NATIONAL TEAMS

During 2021, 9 players of Urartu FC were called up to different national teams. In March, within the framework of the qualifying round of the FIFA World Cup 2022, five footballers of our club were invited to the Armenian national team at once: Arsen Beglaryan, Anatolii Aivazov, Hakob Hakobyan, Artur Miranyan, as well as Erik Simonyan, who was called up to the national team for the first time, but due to health problems lost the opportunity to take part in the  away match against Liechtenstein (0-1), and home matches with the national teams of Iceland (2-0) and Romania (3-2).

A few months later, in June, along with Hakobyan and Miranyan, Karen Melkonyan was invited to the national team for the first time, who took part in a friendly fixture against the Croatian national team (1-1).

To take part in the last rounds of the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifying round, the young Urartu FC forward Narek Grigoryan was for the first time called up to the Armenian national team, who took part in home matches with North Macedonia (0-5) and Germany (1-4).

Another our forward, Jonel Desire, was called up to the Haiti national team to play in a friendly against Bahrain, in which the Haitians lost 6-1.

Throughout 2021, Urartu FC defender Salomon Nirisarike was consistently invited to his national team of Rwanda. In the qualifying stage of the FIFA World Cup 2022, the Rwandan national team held 6 matches and earned one point, being in last place in their group. It is noteworthy that in some matches it was Salomon Nirisarike who took the duties of the team captain.

IN COMPLETION

2021 brought a lot of joy in victories, but also sadness after disappointing defeats. However, together with our beloved and devoted fans, together with everyone who feels part of our big pride, we will overcome all difficulties and achieve the goals that were set for us.