A ‘football revolution’ – Armenia’s ambitious plans for the sport

The head of the Armenian Football Federation, Arthur Vantsyan, who is also the head of the country’s National Security Agency, has presented a rather ambitious plan for the development of Armenian football by 2025.

At the most recent meeting of the federation, he stated that he appreciates long-term programs, and not single successes.

What goals are set

Armenian football officials hope that the national team will be able to qualify for the World or European Championships by 2025.

To this end the federation intends to build a new stadium that meets international standards and can accommodate 32,000 people.

The head of the federation said that the number of stadiums corresponding to the UEFA standards instead of the current four should be brought to eight.

At least one football academy will be built in each region of Armenia. The football authorities intend to increase the number of children involved in children’s youth clubs to 10,000 instead of the current 5,000.

Football fields are already opening in the regions of Armenia. The Federation intends to build 300 new fields with artificial turfs for the development of amateur football. As for amateur athletes, their number should reach 80,000 instead of the current 10,000.

“Armenian football will have a great future … New projects will increase the financial burden of [the federation], but we are ready for it – for the sake of expected progress. We are now headed for an institutional revolution in football”, said the head of the football federation.

New priorities – women’s football

The Football Federation of Armenia intends to pay special attention to women’s football:

“We are carrying out serious work on the creation of a national woman’s team. One of our main goals is to popularize women’s football.”

What happened to Vanetsyan

The arrival of Artur Vanetsyan marked the end of the long-term management of the Armenian Football Federation by Ruben Hayrapetyan/

The head of the National Security Service took up this post with a programme of stripping Armenian football fof corruption.

Experts formerly wrote Vanetsyan would remain in the position for just several months, but he has been managing the federation for over a year now.

There are a number of scandals connected with the name of the former head of the federation Ruben Hayrapetyan. In particular, he is known for beating soccer players during football matches. Hayrapetyan was also accused of inviting the players of his Pyunik football club (sold in 2018) to the national team.

The media has repeatedly written about the fact that he has created difficulties for other clubs to develop – there are also speculations that Hayrapetyan made decisions about the composition of the national team instead of the coach – an issue not within his competency.